Diving Platform & Pool Stair Testing

The high-consequence zone profile

Pool elevated surfaces requiring distinct testing include:

• Diving boards (1m, 3m platforms)
• Diving platforms (5m, 7.5m, 10m)
• Diving platform approach steps and ladders
• Diving platform main surface (where wet-deck use is common)
• Spectator gallery floors (in competition pools)
• Pool main entry/exit stairs
• Pool ladder approach zones
• Pool ramped beach entry
• Hydrotherapy pool ramped beach entry

PTV targets for high-consequence zones

Working PTV targets for high-consequence pool surfaces:

Zone	Target wet PTV (Slider 55)
Pool main entry stairs (treads)	45+
Pool main entry stairs (risers, where load-bearing)	45+
Pool ramped beach entry	45+
Diving board surface	45+
Diving platform surface	45+
Diving platform approach steps	45+
Pool ladder approach (deck side)	45+

The 45+ target reflects that fall consequence is severe and the user behaviour at these surfaces is often less cautious than at the main deck.

Diving board surface specifics

Diving boards are typically engineered with a non-slip board top surface (textured fibreglass or similar). This surface is engineered to a slip-resistance specification at manufacture but degrades in service through:

• Mechanical wear from repeated foot strikes
• Chemical exposure to chlorinated water
• UV exposure for outdoor diving boards
• Cleaning-product accumulation

Pendulum testing of the board top surface, in service, captures the actual current state — not the as-manufactured state from the manufacturer's datasheet.

Spectator gallery and competition-pool surfaces

Competition pool installations often include spectator gallery floors above and around the pool. These surfaces are typically tested separately because:

• The user population is shod (spectators in street shoes)
• The contamination profile differs (food/drink spillage rather than pool water)
• Slider 96 (rather than Slider 55) is the appropriate slider for shod spectator areas

For competition pool installations we test pool deck and spectator gallery as separate programmes with appropriate sliders.

Ramped beach entry — sloped wet surface

Ramped beach entries (sloped pool-floor extensions allowing wheel-chair-accessible water access, common in hydrotherapy pools and modern leisure-centre learner pools) are sloped wet surfaces under barefoot use — the highest-difficulty pendulum environment in the pool. The slope itself increases slip risk above an equivalent horizontal surface, and the PTV target is correspondingly higher (45+ wet using Slider 55).

Testing of ramped surfaces requires the pendulum to be levelled despite the slope — the instrument's tripod accommodates this through differential leg adjustment, but the methodology is more demanding than horizontal-surface testing.