floors in mental institutions

[franksolich]

I just got done reading a diary kept by a private in the U.S. Army when he was stationed in upstate New York, 1918-1919.  He was assigned to guard inmates at a hospital for the insane operated by the army.

In it, he mentions a peculiar quality of the floors, that they were slippery.

And that they were slippery on purpose.

Guards wore special boots that made the floors non-slippery.

Inmates wore slippers that made them slide and skid if treading too fast.

An interesting idea, and I'm wondering if such is still done today.  Not being intimately--or even distantly--acquainted with nuthouses, I myself wouldn't know.

[Chris_]

No, they cannot be slippery.  Modern building codes will not allow it.  A lot of hospitals have started putting carpet in their patient wing corridors....makes 'em quieter.

[Eupher]

No, they cannot be slippery.  Modern building codes will not allow it.  A lot of hospitals have started putting carpet in their patient wing corridors....makes 'em quieter.

With as much crap as I put up with as a result of OSHA and their interminable regulations and standards, I agree with lug.

When and if a patient or a health worker slips and falls and incurs an injury, that's the start of a lot of headaches to come -- with or without slippery floors.

International Fire Codes, National Fire Protection Association standards, state, and local codes, it goes on and on and on and on....