Which grit level should an Ottawa restaurant ask for?

O. Reg. 493/17, s.7(1)(c) requires that a food premises floor be "tight, smooth and non-absorbent." The regulation does not specify a grit level, a slip-resistance number or any texture measurement. What it asks for is a floor that can be kept clean and in good repair under s.7(1)(g).

Reg. 851 (Industrial Establishments), s.11 adds a workplace layer: a floor used by any worker shall not have "any finish or protective material used on it that is likely to make the surface slippery." No coefficient of friction number is set in Reg. 851, the 2024 Ontario Building Code (O. Reg. 163/24) or the AODA. Any slip-resistance value in a contractor's quote is a product claim to compare, not a legal threshold.

So the practical question is not which grit number to specify, but whether the finished floor will satisfy both rules. Anti-slip texture in a resinous floor coating comes from aggregate, such as aluminium oxide or quartz, broadcast into a coat. A seamless resinous floor with an integral cove base is one way to meet the "tight, smooth and non-absorbent" requirement; it is not the only way, and neither the cove base nor any particular texture is stated as required by O. Reg. 493/17.

Before booking a kitchen re-floor, Ottawa Public Health asks to be notified when a food premises is being significantly renovated. We found nothing from OPH stating whether re-coating an existing kitchen floor counts as a significant renovation, so ask OPH before the work is scheduled.

On the contractor side, a few things are worth confirming before work begins. Ask for the product data sheet and safety data sheet for every product being applied. Under OHSA s.38(1.1), an employer whose staff remain on site during coating work shall make the SDS readily available to those workers.

Comparing quotes, look at the product names with their data sheets, the prep method and the surface profile each data sheet calls for, whether a moisture test is included and what happens if the slab fails it, the number of coats or the thickness specified in the data sheet, whether cove base is included and at what linear footage, the aggregate type and broadcast rate for texture, and the closure window the contractor is committing to against what the data sheet actually lists for return to service.

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