Tape designed to prevent people from slipping goes by a few different names: non-slip tape, anti-slip tape, non-skid tape, anti-skid tape and grit tape. Non-slip tape and non-slip coatings are the two primary ways that businesses and homes safety-proof areas that may be hazardous and slippery-prone. There are hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of slip-and-fall type injuries that happen every year, some which are very serious and even fatal, with enormous amounts of money and time being lost all for something that was easily preventable. A relatively small "capital expenditure" for these non-slip safety products can go a long way in - protecting workers, the company's bottom line (legal expenses, lost productivity and compensation insurance expenses), and satisfying OSHA's stringent safety requirements. A company can protect itself and its workers by laying down non-skid tape in regularly trafficked wet and hazardous areas. Some of those areas would include: stairways, ramps, ladders, walkways, various recreational vehicles, playgrounds, loading docks, areas near electrical/power sources, etc...
Anti-slip tape, in the form of a strip or a larger roll, is usually made with a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side and various mineral grits on the other side, such as aluminum oxide and silicone carbide stones, or in some cases they are made of the bare-foot-ready textured vinyl. The grit/abrasives are carefully chosen as a durable material that will increase the co-efficient of friction of the potentially dangerous surface in question. Sometimes there is no adhesive on the strip or roll and a product-specific glue must be used to secure the "tape" to the needed area.
The mineral abrasive tapes are the most durable of the anti-slip tape varieties and were developed to promote greater safety in some of the harshest of industrial conditions. These durable tapes will many times use tough diamond-like hard minerals, which can be used either indoors or outdoors, and are designed to maintain a non-slip surface even with the following substances splattered on top: water, oil, motor fuel, juices from food processing, mud and various types of machine lubricants. The grit tape can be attached to metal, concrete, wood, paint, etc., and the larger rolls can be shaped whenever it is necessary to custom fit for whatever the area or object that requires the application.
The other kind of non-slip tape does not have an abrasive mineral as the friction provider; rather, these "softer" tapes are designed more for human skin contact, usually for the non-industrial areas where there is usually bare feet traffic. The non-slip material is usually made of heavy gauge textured vinyl or a ultra-low-level durable grit can be found in places like showers, locker rooms, pools, and hospitals.
Colored non-slip tape, which can be abrasive or non-abrasive, is ideal when it's important to give extra warning to people of the slippery hazards. The classic coloring design is the slanted alternating black and yellow stripes. Also, there is the fluorescent/glow-in-the-dark non-slip strips that can be used on emergency exits, steps, and other places - offering the vital luminescent when the power outages inevitably come.