Comment from Kendzior, Russell; The National Floor Safety Institute

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the members of the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), we submit the following recommendation: That the proposed OSHA Rule 29 CFR 1910 Walking and Working Surfaces; Personal Protective Equipment include the recently released ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 standard in Section C. "Other Issues", Sub-Section 1. "New and Updated National Consensus Standards" of the proposed CFR. The NFSI serves as the Accredited Standards Developer of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) B101 Committee for "The Prevention of Slips, Trips and Falls" which authored the ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 which was released in December of 2009. The ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 is currently the only published national standard by which the slip resistance of walkway surfaces can be measured and therefore serves as a critical role in the measurement and subsequent prevention of slips-and-falls. We believe that the inclusion of the ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 standard is critical as employers, as well as business and property owners, seek to reduce the growing trend associated with slips-and-falls. Members of the ANSI B101 main committee included government agencies such as: OSHA, CDC and CPSC as well as major product manufacturers, insurance companies, academics, and major retailers. Providing a clear and national recognized means of measuring the risk of a slip and fall via that of the ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 standard will serve both the goals of the agency as well as that of private and public industry. I am enclosed a copy of the ANSI/NFSI B101.1-2009 standard for review. Thanks You. Russell J. Kendzior President NFSI