Paving the way for pedestrian safety

Slips, trips and falls consistently account for one in three major injuries in the UK. According to HSE statistics, this equates to one serious slip accident every three minutes - costing local authorities, the NHS and the UK economy £billions every year in compensation, treatment and expenses. Broken public paving surfaces are the main culprits causing over 50% of major injuries and incalculable, often crippling, human suffering.

Approximately 50,000 slips, trips or falls are reported to the Health and Safety Executive per year in the UK: 10,000 of which result in disabling injuries and 95% in broken bones. Uneven walking surfaces are largely to blame, with wet, poorly treated or non-repaired paving giving rise to a growing number of accidents annually on our streets.

Rising cost of claims
According to the Consumers Association, up to half a million people per year in the UK require medical treatment from slips on damaged pavements – often resulting in severe long-term effects on physical and psychological health. What’s more, a DTI report estimates that, nationally, ten times as many people attend hospital A&E departments with injuries arising from falls on the road as those involved in road traffic accidents.

Falls resulting from defects in paving surfaces, whether a footway or carriageway, can cost local authorities upwards of £5,000 per claimant. Couple this with today’s endemic compensation culture, and new evidence suggesting that single personal injury payouts have reached as high as £600,000 are no longer hard to believe.

Unsurprisingly, local authorities are coming under increasing pressure to ensure the occurrence of such accidents are minimal. Yet proven methods of preventing them do exist, are relatively simple to adopt and in many cases eliminate the risk entirely. So why do slips and trips still occur at such frequent rates on public walkways, steps, ramps and risers and what will it take to make them safer?

Low slip potential
Guidance documents agree that for all external situations, paving must be firm, even and stable with increased durability and waterproofing qualities. In line with the Health & Safety Commission and Workplace Health, Safety & Welfare Regulations 1992, pedestrian surfaces are also required to be slip-resistant.

To this end, walkways must be safe to use in both wet and dry conditions and avoid the surface reflection of materials which may affect pedestrians. This is where seamless surfacing materials like mastic asphalt provide the perfect answer.

Engineers Radlett Consultants who tested mastic asphalt paving under wet and dry conditions and on both flat and sloped surfaces gave the material a massive thumbs up. It made slip resistant tests using leather, standardised rubber, shoe rubber and shoe heal plastic commonly used on womens shoes.

In all cases mastic asphalt showed it could out perform other types of paving materials even on wet slopes up to 10 degrees.

Used extensively as a long-life wearing surface in urban situations, where durability and consistency is paramount, modified bituminous materials such as mastic asphalt can bring real benefits to road and pathway construction. Delivering better and longer lasting walkways, and savings in total lifecycle costings, mastic asphalt is capable of out-performing and outlasting all other comparable materials.


Proven reduction of slips
Suitable for a wide range of paving applications — from resurfacing the Severn Bridge, to city centre carriageways, market places and multi-storey car parks – mastic asphalt is increasingly specified by local authority architects for areas of heavy pedestrian traffic. Offering a smooth and durable wearing surface which is easy to clean and reinstate, the material is recyclable many times over and simple to maintain.

Footway guidance published by Transport for London , the integrated government body responsible for the capital’s transport system, further reinforces these benefits, “Mastic asphalt is extensively used in central London locations. It gives excellent durability and inherent strength, as well as excellent waterproofing qualities.” With over seven million journeys taken on foot in Greater London every day, the need to protect pedestrians from injury is a vital concern – both personally and financially for the Borough Council in charge.

The City of Edinburgh Council is another example of a local authority taking the initiative to introduce the material – ultimately, to reduce the number of trip accidents on public walkways.

Based on research findings that prove mastic asphalt reduces falls on footways by 100% , Edinburgh Council is in the process of bringing in safer surfaces wherever compatible with urban design considerations. With results indicating a further 90% reduction resulting from improved maintenance, Edinburgh will combine regular inspections with mastic asphalt resurfacing to safeguard pedestrians and combat slip and trip incidents in the city.

Seamless surfacing
As a paving material, mastic asphalt is the most useful and versatile - providing flexibility in terms of contract size, time and scale of application. First used as a wearing course on carriageways in the 1860s, over a century of testimonials have since laid claim to its superior quality and durability.

Complying with the British Standard specification for roads, footways and pavings, BS 1447:1988, today\\\'s modern mastic asphalt provides a seamless bituminous application. Together with advanced polymer formulations, the material is suitable for a whole host of construction applications - in fact, any situation where waterproofing integrity is crucial. These benefits, when coupled with the ability to be laid to any shape, width, depth, pattern or colour make mastic asphalt a very valuable problem solver for the design engineer.

Ease of installation
As mastic asphalt is available in both hot charge and block format, (gritless blocks are re-melted and the specified quantity of coarse aggregate added on-site) paths and walkways can be reinstated in any quantity and at any time – and in a grade that matches the existing wearing course. Larger contracts can be supplied via hot charge transporters carrying up to 15 tonnes of freshly made product direct from the manufacturer to the contract site.


Most importantly, slip and skid resistance can be provided by sand rubbing, surface crimping or by the application of high polished stone value pre-coated chippings. In extreme circumstances the use of an epoxy resin dressing with coloured bauxite chippings will provide the ultimate non-skid surface. For local authorities and public pathway specifiers, this added functionality further enhances the materials suitability for public areas – and in reducing the potential for any slips and trips.

Cutting claims, increasing safety
The cost of falls on footways, both economic and human, should not be underestimated – particularly with settlement figures rising to outlandishly large proportions.

With increasing impetus to reduce accidents and serious injury caused by public paving surfaces, local authority specifiers and contractors can easily make personal injury claims a thing of the past. The seamless, slip-resistant and durable qualities of mastic asphalt mean that £billions in compensation and medical costs will be saved, Health & Safety regulations met and pedestrian safety put first at all times.