Anti-slip treatment on polished concrete is a trade: every method that raises friction changes either gloss or maintenance. Choose by traffic, wetness and how much gloss the client will give up.

Options

Method	Friction gain	Gloss cost	Life
Coarser final hone (200-400)	High	Large, satin look	Permanent
Mechanical texture brush	Medium	Small	Years
Chemical etch	Medium	Medium, can blotch	Years, until re-polished
Anti-slip coating	High initially	Large, film	1-3 years

Mechanical first

Honing coarser is the only method that adds friction without a film and without recurring cost. It is also the most durable. On a floor specified at 2000 grit, stepping back to 400 raises wet friction substantially and gives a satin finish many commercial clients prefer for safety reasons.

Chemical etch cautions

• Test on a 1 m2 area and check for blotching before full application.
• Neutralise fully and rinse; residue keeps reacting for days.
• Etching removes the densified surface locally, so the area re-hazes faster.
• Never etch where food is prepared or where runoff can reach drains untreated.

Coatings

Anti-slip coatings work immediately and are the right answer for ramps and wet rooms. They also need reapplication, show wear patterns, and complicate future polishing because the film must be removed. Specify the recoat interval in the maintenance contract, not just the initial application.

Test and document

Measure wet PTV with a pendulum or R-class with a tribometer on the finished floor, and record the lowest reading per zone. Hand the numbers over with the floor. On a commercial project, a documented 40 PTV is worth more than a beautiful floor with no test result.

Targets by area, and what the numbers mean

An anti-slip treatment without a target is a treatment with no acceptance criterion. Targets differ by area and by whether the floor is wet, and the same 0.42 that satisfies a dry sales floor fails at an entrance in rain.

Area	Condition	DCOF target	Typical treatment
Dry retail sales floor	Dry	0.42 minimum	Nothing, or a light mechanical brush
Entrance zone, uncovered	Wet	0.50 and above	Mechanical texture plus mats
Food service and kitchen access	Wet, greasy	0.55 and above	Coating with aggregate, or grooved finish
Ramps and slopes	Wet	0.60 and above	Grooving or profiled inserts
Healthcare and aged care	Dry, with spills	0.50 dry, 0.55 wet	Fine mechanical texture, tested in both states

Values are measured with a tribometer, not judged by dragging a boot. PTV and DCOF are not interchangeable, so a test report must state which was used and at what condition.

Where slip accidents actually happen

Slip incidents cluster in a few square metres of every building, and they are usually not where the floor is smoothest. Mapping those zones is cheaper than treating an entire floor.

• The first three metres inside the entrance, where wet shoes meet polished concrete and grit is at its highest.
• Transitions between finishes: a mat edge, a threshold, a change from honed to polished.
• Anywhere a cleaning machine leaves water: around a scrubber's turning points and beside a floor drain.
• Locker rooms, toilets and food areas, where water is expected and the floor is often polished for hygiene.
• Ramps and level changes, where the foot angle changes and the required friction is higher.

A floor with a uniform 0.42 everywhere and 0.35 at the entrance is a floor with an accident waiting in one zone. Zoned treatment is what risk assessments usually call for, and it is what insurers ask to see.

Maintenance burden, the number that decides the option

Every treatment changes how the floor is cleaned. The option with the best initial test result is often the one that costs most to keep, and that is where anti-slip programmes fail.

• Mechanical texture: no ongoing chemical cost, but it traps dirt. Expect more frequent scrubbing and a slightly duller finish.
• Chemical etch: cheap to apply, but it opens the paste and re-etches unevenly as traffic polishes some areas back. Reapplication intervals shorten each time.
• Aggregate coatings: highest wet friction, but they wear at the traffic lanes, and a worn patch reads as a failed treatment. Plan for re-coating every 3-5 years.
• Grooving and inserts: durable and measurable, but hard to clean in a retail environment and expensive to repair if a section breaks.
• Any treatment on a polished floor costs some gloss. The client should be told how much before, not after.

The cheapest programme is usually zoning: treat the 10 % of the floor where incidents happen, leave the rest polished, and re-test the treated zones annually. That keeps the gloss where the client sees it and the friction where feet actually land.

If the client wants mirror gloss and wet-area safety, split the specification by zone. One finish for the whole building is how projects end with a floor nobody defends.