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Abstract

Slipping due to insufficient friction with flooring can cause fatal injuries in workplaces and homes. Oak wood flooring is commonly used in construction to build these environments. In the manufacturing process, wood finishing is conducted at the end of the process to strengthen the properties and longevity of the wood, although it could impact the coefficient of friction (COF) causing slip falls. Vegetable oils, such as macadamia nut and walnut oils, used as wood finishes have gained prominence due to their beneficial aspects to the environment. However, little is known about their effectiveness as a safe coating for wood floors. It was hypothesized that if oak wood was coated with macadamia nut oil, it would be the most effective at increasing the COF as it is the most viscous of the finishes. Both vegetable oil finishes were compared to a control group with no finish, as well as a common polyurethane finish. After being coated, the COF of the wood materials was measured by sliding a rubber shoe sole along the wood, attached to a Vernier Force Sensor. A one-way ANOVA with an alpha value of 0.05 suggested the results were significant (p < .001). The post-hoc Tukey test found significant differences in all experimental groups, with polyurethane finish having the highest mean COF of 0.77, while macadamia nut had a COF of 0.40. Both vegetable oils were considered unsafe by OSHA guidelines of a COF of 0.5, emphasizing the effectiveness of chemical finishes such as polyurethane.

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