Seeking for the correct precast safety barrier supplier? A safety barrier’s sole purpose is to remain in place and to absorb and redirect impact when needed, but not fail during testing. If it does that, no one can see it. When it doesn’t, it’s not because it’s not an idea to use precast barriers — it’s almost always because of the barrier supplier that designed and built the barriers. In this guide, you will learn how to assess a precast safety barrier supplier and avoid getting safety barriers that are only acceptable in the yard and do not meet performance requirements when needed.
Choosing a Supplier Depends on More Than Length and Weight per Unit
When buying, most people compare unit length, units weight and the price. It’s a reasonable starting point but leaves out the key to determining whether a barrier performs when it’s required – how the supplier designs and reinforces the barrier to comply with a recognised safety performance standard, and how consistently the supplier produces the barrier to that standard, not just the first few off the mould.
Safety barriers can only be there for one second, when they get hit by the impact, and it goes good or it doesn’t go good. No point in not noticing and fixing until later in time, or even no second chance to get the design right after installation. A supplier that views the use of safety barriers as a product line and a certified product — not “a heavy concrete block” — thinks through the design and manufacture of his product with that one moment in mind. The person who doesn’t will give you a barrier that resembles the real barrier but hasn’t actually been engineered and verified to function like a real barrier.
Understand Which Type of Barrier Is Appropriate for Your Project
It is useful to be aware of what type of safety barrier a project needs prior to comparing suppliers as there are many different types of safety barriers and different levels of performance required depending on the project type.
Road and Highway Barriers
Road and highway barriers are used to isolate traffic lanes or to shield roadside hazards and usually must exhibit a known road safety barrier containment and redirection performance criterion. These require formalized crash test performance, or design certification, that corresponds to the traffic speed and volume for the application.
Construction and Work Zone Barriers
Work zone barriers provide protection to workers and the public surrounding an active construction or roadwork site, and are frequently used and moved numerous times throughout the duration of a project. These prioritize ease of handling and repositioning along with their protective performance, as they are repositioned much more frequently than permanent installations.
Perimeter and Anti-Ram Barriers
Perimeter barriers are designed to keep vehicles out of a specific perimeter, for security or public safety purposes. They should have a resistance level to vehicles impacting them at a known speed and weight; unlike the case of a vehicle that is just being redirected.
Pedestrian Safety Barriers
Pedestrian barriers are barriers that are placed to keep people away from the vehicle or the hazardous area and are not meant to withstand the impact of a vehicle. These focus on stability, levelness, and the finished look that is appropriate for heavy use by the public rather than the engineering work of vehicle rated barriers.
With the category identified – and the required performance – you can then prioritize your supplier list and eliminate manufacturers that have not proven they can actually meet the specific demands of your project – instead of simply having barriers as an add-on in their catalogue.
Inquire About Their Design Standard and Certification
A supplier that is serious about safety barrier manufacturing will be able to state precisely which recognized standard its barriers are manufactured and tested against, and have the documentation to prove it, rather than just saying that its barriers are “safety rated.” This is not something you’d have to take on faith for something designed specifically for protection.
Specifically ask what the standard or containment level the barrier is certified to, which testing/certification body verified that performance and if they have the actual certification documentation for the specific product you are purchasing. Any supplier who offers this without reservation is a good one to work with. A supplier who is unable to produce documentation is a supplier that is not to be trusted with a safety critical structure and one that is vague or who has certified another product in their range is not to be trusted with a safety critical structure.
Compare the Design with Their Manufacturing Consistency
The certification is for a certain design and manufacturing rather than for “a barrier like this one.” Inquire about how the supplier makes sure that each product that comes off the line is identical to the one that was designed, reinforced and tested and certified, and what would happen if the product were found to be different.
A genuine supplier with quality control will consider any deviation from the certified design as unqualified for that unit as a barrier that does not match the tested design no longer represents the same performance as the barrier that was tested and certified, even if it is very similar. What process is there for inspection and sign-off to determine that each batch meets the certified specification prior to shipping?
Assess Their Manufacturing Quality Control
In addition to following the certified design, good manufacturing discipline is paramount. Question the process and time of casting as well as curing and ask what tests are conducted prior to dispatch of a batch.
Consistency is as important as quality when it comes to safety barriers, because a run of a safety barrier is as reliable as its weakest link when it comes to a large order. Question what checks are made to ensure all units in a big order are as good as the sample unit or test unit – not just a sample of the order.
Evaluate the Connections and Continuity of the Units
Most safety barrier applications use the units running together in a continuous run and the connection between the units is essential to the overall performance, as it is possible that the unit may be performing well by itself, but fail as part of a system if it separates or moves out of alignment when impacted. Inquire about the connection and whether the connection detail was part of the original certified testing, and what the installation tolerance would be for maintaining the connection performance.
A supplier that is able to articulate what his/her connection system was specifically part of the tested and certified design, is exhibiting real engineering rigor. If the supplier is not considering the connection as part of the certified barrier system then they are leaving a gap in how the barrier system will perform in practice.
Verify Installation Requirements with the Certified Design
Certified performance is usually dependent upon the specific installation conditions such as anchoring, spacing, foundation or free-standing requirements, that were part of the original testing. Ask the certifier what conditions the certification is based on, whether your installation meets these conditions, and what will happen if you can’t adhere to these conditions.
Even if the unit is the same as the unit tested, placing it outside the conditions for which it was certified means that you may not have the same performance as the unit tested. This detail needs to be verified with your supplier and where applicable, your project safety engineer.
Look into Their References and History
Documentation for certification provides you with information about the barriers a supplier’s barriers are intended to provide and that they have been designed and tested to provide. Completed projects inform you what they have really provided and on how many occasions. Request examples of other safety barrier projects with similar performance objectives as your project, and the duration of those installations.
It would be much more convincing that a supplier can supply barriers that comply with their certified design if they had a consistent history of supplying such barriers, plus a test report.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
Here are some signs to watch for.
Some warning signals are common across less reliable suppliers of safety barriers:
- Failure or unwillingness to provide certification documentation for the type of safety barrier being sold.
- Answers that are vague or change over time when asked which standards apply.
- No clear process for determining batch consistency with the certified design.
- Pricing that is much lower than competitors without explanation.
Safety barriers have been put in place for a reason to warn of a critical time, and any of these warning signals taken on its own must not be taken for granted, and two or more of these warning signs together should be considered a good reason not to proceed.
Connecting the Dots
The key is to ensure the safety barrier supplier has barriers designed, tested, and certified to a recognized standard for the application you’re interested in, and has the manufacturing process so streamlined that every barrier produced is identical to the one that was tested, and thus meets the same standard. If you get this right, the barrier does just what it is supposed to do: it remains in place and functions well during the times it is needed.