The Safety of Floor Mats on Flexible Foundations

Ralph L. Barnett^1,

¹Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Triodyne Inc., 450 Skokie Blvd, Ste. 604, Northbrook, IL

Cite this paper:
Ralph L. Barnett. The Safety of Floor Mats on Flexible Foundations. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2019; 7(4):181-187. doi: 10.12691/ajme-7-4-4

Abstract

The ordinary floor mat is a ubiquitous Type V safety device; i.e. it sometimes protects you, sometimes hurts you, and sometimes makes no contribution. Its hazardous nature has been embraced by technical codes and standards and the courts have declared that an unremarkable ordinary floor mat is not unreasonably dangerous because reasonable lookout on the part of a pedestrian will abate its downside. As it turns out, these endorsements are all predicated on the notion that floor mats are supported on “rigid” surfaces such as concrete, tile, or wood. If the mat is placed on a flexible surface, such as a carpet, an unreasonably dangerous trip hazard may be formed by the carpet/mat combination. Furthermore, the hazard is open but not obvious.

Keywords:
slip and fall trip and fall change-in-level open and obvious risk utility easily avoidable

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