What Building Codes Actually
Require for Slip Resistance

The short version

The most useful thing to understand about floor-safety “requirements” is how few of them set a hard number. Most codes create a duty to provide a reasonably safe surface and defer the actual measurement to recognized test standards. So “up to code” and “measured safe” are not the same thing, and a floor can pass inspection and still be dangerous the moment it is wet. Here is the whole landscape at a glance.

Standards vs. codes vs. laws

People mix these three up constantly, and it is the root of most of the confusion. Keep them separate:

• A standard (ANSI A326.3, ASTM E303) is a voluntary technical document written by an industry body. On its own it is a recommendation, not a law.
• A code (the IBC, the Florida Building Code) is a model set of building rules. It becomes enforceable only when a state or a city adopts it, and it usually references a standard, which pulls that standard’s test method into the code.
• A law or regulation (OSHA) is enforceable on its own, but in floor safety it sets a general duty rather than a number.

So when someone asks “is there a code requirement,” the honest answer is that it depends on your jurisdiction’s adopted edition and which standard it points to. That is not a dodge. It is how the system is actually built.

The standard the codes point to: ANSI A326.3

When a code or a specification does put a number on hard-surface flooring, it is almost always through ANSI A326.3. It measures a floor’s wet dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) and ties the minimum to how the space is used, through a product-use classification:

• Interior, wet — level interior areas expected to get wet: at least 0.42
• Interior wet-plus and exterior, wet — entries, ramps, outdoor surfaces: 0.50 to 0.55
• Oils and greases — commercial kitchens: the higher end of the range

The exact category and number depend on the space. We break the five categories and their minimums down in DCOF Requirements and ANSI A326.3 product-use classes. For a codes conversation, the point is this: A326.3 is the method most codes and specifications now lean on for tile and stone, and it gives you a real number to test against and to put on a report.

The pendulum side: ASTM E303 and PTV

Codes outside the United States, and a growing number of specifications here, measure slip resistance with the Pendulum Slip Tester (ASTM E303), which reports a Pendulum Test Value (PTV). The pendulum strikes the floor at roughly the speed of a real heel, so it reads wet and textured surfaces more honestly than a slow drag-sled does. The ISPSC’s pool-deck provision, for instance, accepts a P4 pendulum classification (AS 4586) or, alternatively, a wet DCOF of 0.42 under ANSI A326.3, with the design professional selecting the class.

The American Floor Safety Alliance (AFSA) publishes its own pendulum method, FS101. In the interest of full disclosure, our founder, Claudius Nan, established AFSA. We test to these methods; we do not write the codes that adopt them, and we are not a standards body ourselves.

Does OSHA require a specific slip resistance number?

No — and this surprises people. OSHA’s walking-working-surfaces rules require that floors be kept clean and, so far as reasonable, dry, but OSHA does not publish a mandatory coefficient-of-friction number a floor must meet. It once proposed a non-mandatory 0.50 SCOF recommendation but never adopted it as an enforceable standard. What OSHA does have is a general duty to provide a safe walking surface. Recognized test standards are the accepted way to demonstrate you met it. Anyone citing an “OSHA 0.50 requirement” is repeating a myth.

Is there an ADA coefficient of friction requirement?

This is the most persistent myth in floor safety. Early ADA accessibility guidance advised certain static CoF values (the often-quoted “0.60,” or “0.80 for ramps”) as an unenforceable appendix recommendation, later withdrawn. The enforceable ADA Standards do not set a numeric slip-resistance requirement for general walking surfaces. Accessible routes must be “stable, firm, and slip resistant,” but the specific old figures were never adopted as a binding rule. Calling a floor “ADA compliant” from a tribometer reading is not meaningful.

What does the ISPSC 2024 require for pool decks?

The 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code references recognized slip-resistance methods for the wet walking surfaces around pools and spas, a meaningful shift that puts deck traction on the code radar for designers, builders and operators. Because pool decks are perpetually wet and surround a body of water, they are among the highest-risk surfaces a property owner manages.

What does the IBC say about slip resistance?

The International Building Code is specific in some places and deliberately open in others. It sets firm geometric requirements for stairs and ramps (tread depth, riser height, ramp slope, handrails) and calls for slip-resistant surfaces in certain locations, but generally leaves the measurement of slip resistance to referenced standards rather than publishing its own number. If you want real compliance, you need to know which parts of the code are prescriptive and which parts defer to test standards.

The Florida Building Code

Florida does not write its slip-resistance rules from scratch. The Florida Building Code is built on the International Codes, the IBC and its family, with Florida-specific amendments, and for hard flooring it points to the ANSI A326.3 method the same way the model codes do. So in Florida, as almost everywhere, the code creates the duty and the standard supplies the measurement. If you are building or renovating here, the practical move is to specify and verify to A326.3 for the space’s use, and to confirm the currently adopted FBC edition, because it updates on a cycle.

Florida stair code: treads, nosings and slip resistance

Stairs are where geometry and slip resistance meet. Tread depth, riser height, nosing profile and surface traction all interact. A code-compliant stair with a slippery nosing is still a hazard. State codes such as the Florida Building Code adopt and amend the IBC/IRC provisions; the specific dimensions are prescriptive and worth verifying against the current adopted edition for your jurisdiction.

Who actually enforces slip resistance?

Two very different bodies. Code officials enforce prescriptive requirements at permitting and inspection — stair geometry, ramp slope, where slip-resistant surfaces are required. Courts enforce the duty of care after an incident, and that is where measured slip-resistance data, maintenance records and standards compliance decide outcomes. A floor can pass inspection and still lose in court. That is why documentation matters as much as the initial build. More on that in Litigation From the Inside.

What this means for you

Put the pieces together and the takeaway is simple: “code compliant” is not the same as “safe,” and neither one is the same as “proven.” Codes rarely hand you a single number, so the only way to know where a floor actually stands is to measure it to the standard its use calls for, in the condition it is really in, and keep the report. That is what turns a vague duty into a documented fact you can act on and, if it ever comes to it, defend. Testing gives you the number. Our reports give you the record.

Sources and editions

A note on editions. Codes and standards are revised on cycles, and a jurisdiction can be a version or two behind the model code. Before you cite a specific section or number in a permit set, a specification or a legal document, confirm the edition your jurisdiction has actually adopted.

Referenced on this page: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.22; the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (ADAAG); the International Building Code (IBC); the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC); the Florida Building Code; ANSI A326.3; ANSI A137.1; ASTM E303; ASTM F1637; AFSA FS101.

This page is general information to help you understand how codes and standards fit together. It is not legal advice or a code-compliance determination for your specific project.