In any working environment, workers and non-workers at the greatest risk in the event of an accident are pedestrians. Most pedestrians won’t be focusing much on their environment, even while at work, despite having minimal protection from a collision. Vehicle drivers at least have a tonne of metal to protect them from an impact, but pedestrians have no such luck. They might be wearing a hard hat or other safety gear, but it’s your responsibility as a business owner or operator to ensure the safety of your workers and anyone passing through your worksite by using high-quality safety barriers.
Protecting Pedestrians
In all collisions involving pedestrians, pedestrians invariably emerge from the impact in far worse shape than anybody else. Those walking around at work have many things to think about, and tend to be focused on getting their job done well rather than unexpected risks in their immediate environment. This means that they’re at enormous risk in workplaces like warehouses and shipping docks that have vehicles milling about, with drivers thinking the same thoughts as their pedestrians in regard to their task at hand.
You want to protect your pedestrians with a safety barrier that will last for years, and that won’t cost you an enormous sum of money. You don’t want to spend massive amounts on maintaining, repainting or rebuilding your barriers after a collision, but you can’t afford to risk the safety of your workers. That’s why A-Safe, the safety barrier specialists, keep their prices down by designing and manufacturing their own products from a flexible polymer that will absorb impacts rather than reflect them.
Material Considerations
Although there are numerous kinds of barriers on the market today that have been used for decades, if not centuries, one of the advantages of modern technology is that we can manufacture materials that combine the strengths of various materials to produce new products. One such product is the polymer pedestrian barrier designed and manufactured by A-Safe, a British company with numerous high-profile long-term clients and customers. Their safety barriers were actually designed in conjunction with Heathrow Airport in London, Europe’s busiest airport, meaning that you’re receiving an industrial aircraft-level security guarantee with your barriers.
The bright yellow of these barriers (although other colours are available) is designed to be eye-catching for passing drivers to prevent them from accidentally careening into the barrier in a momentary lapse of judgement. This technique has been used for concrete and metal barriers for quite some time, but these require continual repainting, while the polymer adopts the hue as its own, requiring no layers of paint. Polymer is also far more durable and malleable than concrete, which does not yield at all to any impact, and will crumble into brittle pieces upon a high-impact collision. Polymer is also non-biodegradable and won’t erode the way that metal and concrete do after prolonged exposure to moisture and the elements, or even to repeated low-impact collisions. This low-maintenance material is widely used for these precise reasons, and that makes it ideal for use as a pedestrian barrier.