Supermarket Slip Resistance: How Contamination And Wear Change Retail Resin Floor Performance

By artiltd-panel on Aug 6, 2026, 11:00:00 AM

A supermarket floor has to perform in public, in motion and under changing conditions. By this, we mean that the same surface may receive rainwater at the entrance foyer, customer trolley traffic through the main aisles, condensation moisture near chilled displays, fine debris from packaging in the storeroom, and heavier back-of-house movements from cages or pallet trucks. Cleaning works around this activity, sometimes during trading hours and sometimes after the store has already accumulated a full shift of footfall, spillages and residue.

Retail resin flooring for supermarkets therefore has to be specified around the conditions the surface will face during trading. A floor that looks clean and consistent at completion will inevitably change over the coming weeks and months as contamination, cleaning and wear take their toll on the surface, so the specification needs to account for how the shop operates after the installation team has left.

Contamination Changes The Surface Underfoot

In most retail resin flooring product brochures, a slip resistant coating or additive is given a pendulum test value (PTV) that determines its relative surface resistance. The pendulum test uses a swinging mechanical foot with a prepared rubber slider; as the slider passes across the floor, the machine measures how much the surface slows it down. The method is intended to reproduce the action of a pedestrian heel during a slip and can be carried out dry, wet or with relevant contaminants.

However, it’s important to note that a surface’s PTV is not a universal constant. In practice, PTV and surface roughness can be altered by the presence of contaminants, including dirt, grease, and so on. In a typical supermarket, therefore, actual slip resistance depends on the relationship between the surface roughness of the floor (often expressed as Rz), the contaminant and the person walking across it. A resin floor’s anti-slip surface profile helps disrupt the film that can form between footwear and the floor (which is what causes slips), but supermarket contamination is not one consistent condition. At the entrance, the floor may be dealing with rainwater, grit and matting transitions, while near the produce, bakery or food-to-go areas, packaging dust, oil, crumbs or drink spillages can change how the surface behaves.

These conditions do not stay neatly inside one part of the shop, either. Customer movements, trolley wheels and staff activity can spread residue beyond the point where it first appears. A spill dealt with quickly may leave little trace; while a repeated moisture source near a display or doorway can create a more persistent challenge. The floor specification therefore has to look beyond the broad label of “slip resistance” and consider where contamination is most likely to appear, how it moves through the space and how quickly the team can remove it during normal trading.

Cleaning Has To Work With The Floor

Cleaning is one of the main controls for supermarket slip risk, but its effectiveness depends on how well the method suits the retail resin flooring surface. Detergent strength, dwell time, brush or pad selection, water recovery and drying time influence the condition customers and staff encounter once cleaning has taken place. A floor can appear clean and still carry a film if detergent is not properly recovered, and a wet surface can be a potent hazard across a pedestrian route if drying time has not been considered.

The surface profile has to support that cleaning routine. If the finish is too smooth for the likely contamination, water, grease or residue can affect traction before cleaning takes place, while if the finish is too heavily textured for the available cleaning equipment, everyday filth can become trapped within the textured profile and make the floor harder to keep clean. For supermarkets, this balance is especially important because cleaning may need to happen in live customer areas, around stock movements and along aisles that cannot be closed for long periods.

Wear Changes The Original Finish

Retail resin flooring surfaces are extremely durable and hard wearing, but like every substance in the universe, epoxy resin is subject to gradual wear and tear. The surface installed on day one will not experience wear evenly. Wheeled traffic and cleaning equipment tend to follow repeated routes, so polishing and abrasion often develop around supermarket entrances, checkout approaches, service counters, turning points and stock access routes. A quieter aisle may end up performing differently to a busy chilled section or a corridor used for deliveries.

This has practical implications for long-term inspection and maintenance. The shop team needs to understand where the surface profile is most likely to change over time, where contamination is most likely to combine with wear, and where local repair or renewal may be needed before the whole floor reaches the end of its service life.

What Next?

For more information about retail resin flooring and support choosing the right specification for your supermarket, please contact one of the experts at Advanced Resin today by clicking here, or by calling 01332 417453.

Image Source: Envato