Is Your Slip Testing Provider NATA Accredited? The Hidden Liability You Need to Know

TLDR: Same-level slips, trips and stumbles are Australia’s leading cause of injury hospitalisation. When an incident occurs, the quality and credibility of your slip resistance test report matters. ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, the standard underpinning NATA accreditation, requires laboratories to be impartial, with no affiliations and no conflicts of interest. Verifying your testing provider’s NATA accreditation takes less than a minute and should form part of every procurement process. Call 0405 042 814 or email info@australiansliptesting.com.au to discuss your testing requirements.

Slip testing often appears as a routine maintenance expense. In reality, it can become one of the most important documents your organisation relies upon after a serious incident. It is one of the few pieces of evidence that can determine whether your organisation is able to demonstrate that it exercised reasonable due diligence. When a slip incident results in an insurance claim, regulatory investigation, or litigation, the quality and credibility of that evidence matters.

Same-level slips, trips and stumbles are the single largest cause of injury hospitalisation in Australia, ahead of every other injury category. The figures make clear why floor safety is not something to leave to chance.

The Numbers Worth Knowing Before Your Next Review

Falls on the same level, meaning slips, trips and stumbles, were the single largest cause of injury hospitalisation in Australia in 2024-25, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. More than 80,000 Australians were hospitalised from same-level slips and falls in that period.

Australians aged 65 and over were hospitalised for falls twelve times more often than adults aged 25 to 44. That is a significant consideration for portfolios including aged care, healthcare, retail, and hospitality environments.

Safe Work Australia recorded approximately 32,000 serious workers’ compensation claims involving falls, trips and slips during 2023-24. More than two-thirds were same-level falls.

Those figures are worth pausing on. Same-level falls rarely involve dramatic circumstances. More often, they involve a wet lobby, a worn entrance mat, a contaminated walkway, or a recently cleaned corridor. These are everyday surfaces that fall squarely within the responsibilities of facilities management, cleaning contractors, and property owners.

Why This Decision Sits With You, Not Just "the Standard"

Under the Work Health and Safety Act, the person conducting a business or undertaking has a duty to eliminate or minimise foreseeable risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Slip resistance is one of the few risks that is measurable, documented, and supported by established Australian Standards.

That places procurement and facilities professionals in an important position. If a serious incident occurs, one of the first documents requested is often the most recent slip resistance test report. The questions that follow quickly are: who performed the testing, was the laboratory competent to undertake the work, were recognised Australian Standards followed, and was the testing carried out by an independently accredited laboratory.

Simply saying “we had the floor tested” is rarely the end of the conversation.

The Vendor Conflict That Can Undermine Your Own Defence

A significant portion of the slip resistance market is not made up of independent testing laboratories. Many providers also sell anti-slip treatments, coatings, grinding services, or other remediation works. Where the same business assesses a floor and also stands to benefit financially from recommending remedial work, a conflict of interest exists.

This is precisely why ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard underpinning NATA accreditation, places a hard requirement on impartiality. Accredited laboratories must be independent. They must identify, document, and actively manage risks to their objectivity. These systems are independently assessed by NATA on an ongoing basis. A laboratory that sells remediation services cannot meet this requirement.

For facilities managers and procurement teams, this distinction is not a technical detail. If a provider has a commercial interest in the outcome of testing, the independence of the assessment is compromised. Even where that is not reflected in the results, it can become an issue during insurance investigations or legal proceedings. Equally, selecting a provider without considering their independence or accreditation status may itself become part of the procurement decisions examined after an incident.

Know Which Document You Are Actually Being Tested Against

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood areas of slip resistance testing, particularly where reports are produced outside an accredited laboratory environment.

Existing pedestrian surfaces are generally tested in accordance with AS 4663:2013, which reports a British Pendulum Number (BPN). It does not assign a P-classification. The familiar P0 to P5 classification system belongs to AS 4586, which applies to new pedestrian surface materials tested under controlled laboratory conditions before installation.

HB 198 bridges the two by providing recommended minimum classifications for different applications as guidance when interpreting results from existing surfaces. However HB 198 is a handbook, not a mandatory Australian Standard, and it should not be confused with a legislated compliance requirement.

AS 4663:2013 prescribes exactly what a slip resistance test report must contain, including identification of the test area, date and location, nature and purpose of the test, the names of personnel who conducted it, a full description of site conditions including surface identity, coatings, treatments and slopes, the type of slider used and its preparation method, the mean BPN for each test surface, the SRV accurate to the nearest whole number with temperature correction where Slider 55 is used, and a reference to AS 4663:2013 and the applicable test method.

A report that does not contain these elements does not meet the requirements of the standard. Understanding what a compliant report must include allows building owners and managers to assess whether the documentation they hold is fit for purpose.

For a full explanation of Australian slip resistance classifications and the standards that govern them, see our guide to Australian slip resistance ratings.

What Accreditation Actually Buys a Multi-Site Portfolio

For a single-site operator, accreditation may seem like a technical detail. Across a national portfolio, it becomes a governance issue.

Every report forms part of your documented risk management process. If testing is undertaken by different providers using inconsistent quality systems or varying interpretations, those inconsistencies can become difficult to explain during audits, insurance reviews, or litigation.

NATA accreditation provides consistency. More importantly, it provides independent verification. A NATA-accredited laboratory has demonstrated compliance with ISO/IEC 17025 through independent assessment. That assessment examines technical competence, staff training, equipment calibration, measurement uncertainty, quality systems, record keeping, participation in proficiency testing, and the laboratory’s ability to consistently produce technically valid results. Those assessments continue throughout the life of the accreditation rather than being a one-off approval.

Many organisations already require electrical contractors to hold appropriate licences, fire contractors to maintain recognised certifications, and asbestos assessors to hold relevant accreditations. Slip resistance testing should be treated no differently. Verifying accreditation should form part of every supplier prequalification and procurement process.

The Check That Belongs in Every Vendor File

Accreditation status is public record and takes less than a minute to verify. Before engaging a testing provider, search the company’s name in NATA’s online Accredited Organisation Directory. If the business is not listed for the relevant testing activity, it is not NATA accredited for that service.

Make this check part of every supplier onboarding process. Keep a copy with your procurement records. It costs nothing, takes less than a minute, and provides documented evidence that appropriate due diligence was undertaken when selecting the testing provider.

Bringing This to Your Next Risk Review

Same-level slips, trips and stumbles are Australia’s leading cause of injury hospitalisation. More than 80,000 Australians were hospitalised following same-level falls in 2024-25. Approximately 32,000 serious workers’ compensation claims involved falls, trips and slips during 2023-24, with more than two-thirds occurring on the same level. Adults aged 65 and over experience hospitalisation rates around twelve times higher than younger working-age adults, making floor safety particularly important for healthcare, aged care, retail, and public-facing environments.

Pair those figures with a simple procurement policy:

All pedestrian slip resistance testing commissioned by the organisation must be undertaken by a NATA-accredited laboratory, with accreditation verified through NATA’s public register prior to engagement.

That transforms accreditation from a procurement preference into a documented risk control.

Australian Slip Testing Is NATA Accredited

Australian Slip Testing Pty Ltd is a NATA-accredited laboratory (Accreditation No. 21255) for pedestrian slip resistance measurement. Like all accredited laboratories, our accreditation can be independently verified through NATA’s public directory.

Slip resistance testing is commissioned because organisations want confidence that their floors have been assessed objectively and competently. That confidence should extend beyond the test result itself to the laboratory producing it.

Before your next procurement review, ask one simple question: is our slip testing laboratory independently NATA accredited? It takes less than a minute to verify, but the answer may become one of the most important procurement decisions your organisation makes.

Call 0405 042 814 or email info@australiansliptesting.com.au to discuss your testing requirements.