WET FLOOR DETECTOR - Isis Project No 2775

Marketing Opportunity

According to statistic published by the National Safety Council (a non-profit, non-governmental, international public service organization dedicated to protecting life and promoting health), slips and falls are a leading cause of unintentional injury in the United States. This is supported by the fact that more than 1 million Americans, most of who are over the age of 60, have sought emergency room treatment for such accidental falls; a growing number of these accidents are occurring in retail stores, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and office buildings.

Over the last decade, slip and fall accident rates have more than doubled and this is becoming a major concern to US retailers, for example it has been estimated that one of the major retailers, is sued on average once every two hours, totalling thousands of lawsuits each year - many of these being for slips and falls1; one such lawsuit cost approximately $545,000.2

The escalation in the number of such accidents shows that existing methods of wet floor, accident prevention - portable warning signs that are only erected after someone alerts management - are obviously not adequate.

The need therefore exists for a more proactive slip and fall prevention strategy.

The Oxford Invention

The Oxford Invention represents a new, versatile, sensor for wet floor detection that is based on light scattering.

The Invention has several advantages over existing methods:

• It is inexpensive
• It is simple
• It can detect wet floors rapidly and accurately. • It is a remote device i.e. it doesn’t need to be in contact with a wet surface.
• It can give audible and visible warnings

1 Occupational Health & Safety, 130-131, September 2002

2 Risk & Insurance, March 2004 (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BJK/is_3_15/ai_114004918)

Patent Status

This work is the subject of patent application, and Isis would like to talk to companies interested in developing the commercial opportunity that this represents. Please contact the Isis Project Manager to discuss this further.

Request Further Information: Project Number 2775 - Wet Floor Detector