MAD Safety Instruments

History of TRACSCAN A Family Tradition In the early 1990’s, NFSI Founder and President, Russ Kendzior went on a global search to find the world’s best and most accurate tribometer and he found it in Munich, Germany! The Sellmaier FSC-2000, as it was then known, was the state-of-the-art robotic tribometer which had captured the attention of many throughout Europe. Having been engineered and sold in Germany by a small German manufacturer, this technology had yet to be developed in the United States. Developed for the U.S. market, the original “yellow box” was named the Universal Walkway Tester and quickly caught the attention of the American market. A few years later, the device underwent a series of improvements and was re-branded the UWT-3000. The now “silver box” version became the fastest growing tribometer in North America and the first to offer a two digit value (to the hundredth decimal place), LCD display, hard-copy printout of test results, and a field validation procedure. The widespread use of the UWT-3000 by the flooring industry and others eventually lead to the development of the nation’s first wet SCOF and DCOF test methods NFSI 101-A (2002) and 101-B (2004) respectively. In 2006, the NFSI became an ANSI Standards Developing Organization (SDO) for slip, trip and fall prevention at which time the NFSI standards became codified as ANSI standard: ANSI B101.1(2009) and ANSI B101.3 (2012) The TRACSCAN is the fifth generation of robotic tribometers originally engineered and manufactured in Germany since 1990. The Original Is Back! MAD Safety Instruments is a family business and named after Russ Kendzior’s son Matthew, daughter Annie, and nephew Darrell who own and operate the company and who have returned the original and best tribometer technology to America. Known as the TRACSCAN, this state-of-the art technology raises the bar yet again. MAD Safety Instruments is advancing the pioneering efforts of Russ Kendzior more than 20 years later.