How Safety Bollard Protect Your Employees

Safety bollards protect site workers and the general public alike from accidents, vandalism, and crime.  Statistics show that many devastating workplace injuries are caused by errant vehicle traffic.  Safety bollards decrease the likelihood of injuries in the following ways:

1. By creating a physical barrier between people and sources of danger – Safety bollards vary greatly in size and strength, from short steel posts to massive concrete structures.  Yet they’re remarkably similar in their ability to repel danger.  This makes them an excellent shield against all types of hazards, from stray vehicles to terrorist attacks.  Yet they need not look imposing or intimidating.  In fact, they often do double duty as planters, statues, fountains, entryways, and other decorative public works.
   
2. By serving as a deterrent to both careless behavior and deliberate acts of destruction – Safety bollards are powerful visual reminders that an area is off-limits to vehicles, human beings, or both.  In today’s information-saturated society, thousands of messages compete for everyone’s attention on a daily basis.  Safety bollards remind passersby that they should pay attention to their surroundings.  They also serve as a warning to those who would cause harm on purpose.
   
3. By channelizing traffic away from sensitive areas – For example, walking and biking paths are increasingly common sights across the country as people place greater emphasis on personal fitness.  As they do, however, the need to make motorists aware of their presence grows as well.  Safety bollards serve this purpose, helping to keep car and foot traffic separate.  They do the same for pedestrian walkways, construction zones, and entrances to public facilities. 
   

Today’s world offers unprecedented opportunities for education, income, and personal enrichment.  Along with these advances, however, comes expanding infrastructure and an increasing need to safeguard human beings from harm, be it intentional or otherwise.  Safety bollards play a crucial role in these efforts.  As the planet grows more interconnected, the need for these structures will only increase.  Public officials and private business owners should keep this fact in mind as they strive to make their locations safer.

Originally Posted HERE.

Seven Major Uses for Safety Bollards

Safety bollards are the workhorses of the security and traffic management world.  They serve an almost endless variety of roles, from directing traffic to protecting sensitive installations.  Here’s a look at seven of the most important ways in which they serve.

1. Traffic calming – Safety bollards are used to delineate car-free zones, prevent spillover parking on sidewalks, and reduce traffic speed by narrowing lanes.  Additionally, studies by the Transportation Research Institute of Israel have found that strategically placed safety bollards can reduce the frequency of automotive accidents.  In some cases, these purposes are best served by flexible metro bollards that bend upon impact.  In other instances, officials use heavily reinforced safety bollards made of steel with concrete cores.  In recent times, portable bollards have begun to replace traffic cones for use around roadway worksites.
   
2. Illuminating darkened areas – Wrongdoers typically seek dark, poorly lit places to commit crimes.  To discourage such behavior and enhance visibility, many modern safety bollards are outfitted with lighting devices.  In some cases, the bollard is a totally self-contained unit that operates via small solar panels, a built-in battery, and LEDs.  In other cases, safety bollards are connected to the power utility and joined in an electrical network.  Reflective bollards are often used to mark sensitive areas; officials rely on their ability to reflect oncoming headlights.
3. Deflecting vehicle tires – Bell-shaped safety bollards are used for this purpose in many parts of the world, including continental Europe and the United Kingdom.  They help to safeguard both property and pedestrians from stray vehicles.
4. Enabling periodic traffic control measures – Some facilities require concentrated traffic management during certain periods of time.  These include school zones, houses of worship, and factories that employ shift workers.  In such cases, portable safety bollards serve an important role.  Sometimes these products are temporarily mounted into permanently affixed metal sockets at road or ground level.  Other times, safety bollards are outfitted with electric or hydraulic mechanisms that operators can raise or lower as needed.  With advances in artificial intelligence, officials are using so-called “smart bollards” in some areas.  These devices can position themselves as needed based on incoming sensory data.
5. Enhancing driver safety during racing events – In some cases, sporting officials use safety bollards to mark sharp corners and other segments of raceways that might compromise the safety of the competitors.  These products are designed to break away from their base very easily, should a vehicle strike them.
6. Controlling access – Many types of safety bollards serve in this capacity.  They range from simple flexible structures joined together by yellow caution tape to substantial monuments that do double-duty as raised flowerbeds or sculptures.  Police officers use safety bollards to direct civilians away from crime scenes, as commonly shown on television and in motion pictures.  Permanent safety bollards can weigh many tons, and are designed to deflect oncoming vehicles traveling at high speeds.  This particular use for bollards has become increasingly common in the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
   
7. Helping to preserve historic sites – In the United States, the National Register of Historic Places includes more than 90,000 buildings, objects, sites, districts and structures.  Many of these locations are easily damaged or defaced.  In such cases, officials often use safety bollards to discourage both careless activities and outright vandalism.  The bollards used range from lightweight portable structures to sizable fixtures, depending on budgetary priorities and changing circumstances.

Conclusion

The world becomes more crowded with each passing day, creating an ever-growing need for effective security measures.  Safety bollards serve an important role in this regard.  Their value as public protectors will only increase in the coming years.

Parking Bollards Help Ensure Parking Lot Safety

Parking bollards help prevent accidents in parking lots across the United States.  Installing them is one of the most effective steps lot owners and managers can take to ensure safety on the properties they are responsible for.  These bollards can take one of three different forms, depending on local needs:

1.      Solid bollards - these are permanently mounted into the lot’s substrate.  Their purpose is to provide an unyielding barrier against vehicle owners that try to park or drive in unauthorized areas.  They are usually made of steel, filled with concrete, and painted bright colors, such as yellow, to make them more noticeable.  These are among the most common parking bollards found in the United States due to their strength and low maintenance requirements.  However, embedded types cannot easily be relocated to meet changing demands.  There have been advances in surface mount bollards that are stronger than traditional welded plate bollards.

2.      Retractable bollards - these can be raised or lowered as needed during particular events or times of day.  When not in use, they drop into pre-drilled slots buried in the ground, and are then raised by manual or mechanical means when needed.  These parking bollards are ideal for use in locations with changing layouts.  However, their higher cost makes them unworkable for some organizations. 

3.      Flexible bollards - these are used on an as-needed basis.  They bend when struck by a vehicle, so they provide little deterrence to those who are determined to break the rules.  However, their affordability makes them a perfect solution when parking bollards are needed for short-term use, such as during special events like community festivals or concerts.  Their lightweight construction keeps them from damaging vehicles when struck while also safeguarding them from being damaged themselves.

Deciding which type of bollard is best for your location depends on factors such as budget, ongoing needs, and local conditions.  Given their role in helping to ensure parking lot safety, however, some type of bollard is necessary for virtually any property where drivers park.

Originally posted at SlowStop.com

Frangible Bollards for Structural Concrete

Protecting assets and pedestrians in a concrete structure often poses particular challenge to designers and architects.  Any bollard used must be strong enough and imposing enough to prevent errant vehicle traffic from causing damage, but yet cannot be a liability to the entire structure.  For this reason, embedded bollards are rarely used in pre- and post-tension concrete structures.  Should a vehicle impact and embedded bollard that does not give, potential for catastrophic structural failure exists.  Further, options to repair bent bollards are severely limited, leaving the property owner stuck with unsightly bollards.

This has left architects and property managers with only welded steel plate bollards as a safe option.  Even when used, often the anchor have to be design for shearing to avoid the possibility of damaging tendons. Unfortunately, as most parking garage owners know, welded-plate bollards are extremely weak and easily damaged, as this outdoor photo demonstrates.

Today there is a new type of bollard that offers the protection rivaling embedded bollard, while maintaining the integrity of the structural concrete.  The patented SlowStop Rebounding Bollard system is a surface mounted bollard that absorbs impacts using a unique energy absorbing disc hidden in the bottom of the bollard system.  This disc allows the bollard to tilt approximately 20 degrees upon impact, then rebound to upright (see DEMO VIDEO).  It is attached to concrete by way of concrete screw anchors, however the base of the bollard system, and the bollard pipe itself, are both designed to bend or break before the anchors pull out the foundation concrete.

Not only does this system provide for a superior safety in a structural concrete building, but it reduces damage to vehicles that may impact the bollard.  It also takes reduced damage itself, due to the shock absorbing properties of the rebounding bollard.  Should any part of the system become damaged, each part can be changed out in modular fashion.  The system is easy to install and usefully in retro-fit situations once tendon locations have been identified.

The system is available in 3", 4", and 6" sizes, each of which is specified based on quantifiable energy absorption testing data.  The 4" bollard is even particularly useful for creating bollard enhanced handicap parking sign posts.

Visit www.slowstop.com to learn more about this innovative new product and how it solves one of today's trickiest design problems for parking garages and structural concrete buildings.

Bollard Covers

We've often been asked if we can provide our SlowStop Bollards in various colors and differing heights.  We pride ourselves on quick product delivery, so it doesn't always make sense to attempt to stock every color and possible height a customer might want.  Instead, we've added a line of plastic bollard covers to our most popular rebounding bollard kits that provide additional benefits to simply painting our steel bollards.

In addition to being able to easily select the color and height of your bollard through the use of a bollard cover, maintenance is greatly reduced.  Annual painting of scratch or rusting bollards becomes thing of the past.  Indeed, corrosion to the steel pipe portion of a bollard is even reduced over the long term due to the protection afforded by plastic bollard covers.

We chose to use Ideal Shield™ Bollard Covers as our cover of choice because of the superior quality of their 1/4" bollard cover.  SlowStop is designed to be a permanent solution to your bollard headaches, and as such we didn't want to provide a cheap bollard cover that might wear too quickly.  The Ideal Shield Bollard Cover is a sturdy, durable design, made of a UV resistant HDPE and molded in a single piece.

Covers are available pre-fitted for our 4" and 6" OD steel rebounding bollards.  Standard covers will raise the height of the SlowStop Bollard kits from 42" to 60" for the 4", and 66" for the 6" bollard.  Of course this can easily be reduced by simply cutting off some of the bottom of the bollard cover, although the domed top will always add several inches to the standard 42" height.

Our covers come in nine standard colors:

• Yellow
• Red
• Blue
• Grey
• White
• Black
• Green
• Orange
• Brown

Custom colors are even possible, however please consider that additional lead time will be needed and minimum quantities may apply.

Covers can be quickly installed by applying the provided special foam tape around the bollard and slipping the cover over the steel pipe.  No other hardware is required, however if you would like to secure the cover to the bollard, one or two self tapping screws added at the bottom of the cover is a simple solution.

A light blue bollard color is also available to add to our handicap parking bollard kit that matches the "handicap blue" color of the standard disabled parking legend.

For more information on our bollard cover or our rebounding steel bollard products, please call 1-800-736-5256.

Originally posted here.

A Better Way to Create Handicap Parking Bollard Signs

Originally posted at slowstop.com

Introduction

Parking lots throughout the nation are required to have adequate parking space for handicapped and disabled drivers by law due to the Americans with Disability Act.  Proper signage must be displayed reserving these spaces.  This often leads to increased cost in designing parking lots as well as significant maintenance due to damaged sign posts.

Background

There are two main types of parking spaces reserved for the disabled.  The first is the "strip mall" type which are parking spaces directly in front of building access.  These are either perpendicular with the bulding or angled in.  Sometimes the handicap placard is mounted to a building column, but more often a simple signpost or bollard signpost embedded in concrete is used.  Sometimes the building curb can act as a car stop to avoid damage to the sign.  The second type is found in an open parking lot, usually closest to the building, but seperated by a travel lane.  Again, a sign post or bollard sign post is used to mount the placard, however a concrete car stop is almost always needed to avoid damage to the sign post.

Problems

When designing facilities needing these signs, the main difficulty with traditional signs is one of cost and coordination.  Bollard signs are more effective than plain signposts, due to increased visibility as well as sturdiness, however their cost is more and they also require either pre-pouring the bollard, or coring the concrete after it has cured to place bollard.


The main problem that owners and facility managers have with these signs is constant damage from bumps and impacts.  Even when a car stop is provided, some vehicles have longer overhangs which can reach the signs and damage them.  Repairs are often costly, requiring the hiring of a parking lot repair company to dig out an old sign and replace with a new.  The addition of car stops where none exist can also be expensive.

A Better Solution

Thanks to the new SlowStop Rebounding Bollard system, a solution has arrived that can solves the issues of high up-front cost and repeated maintenance.  The SlowStop Bollard system is a steel bollard with an energy absorbing elastomer hidden inside.  When impacted, the bollard gives about 20 degrees before locking solid.  This decreases damage to the bollard and sign, to vehicles impacting the bollard, and to the concrete it is attached.  The SlowStop Handicap Parking Bollard Sign system is also very simple to install, requiring only a hammerdrill and an impact wrench to surface mount to concrete.  Once this is done, the bollard is filled with concrete mix to hold the sign pole in place, and installation is complete.

Advantages

This system has several cost advantages.  First off, on a concrete surface, no coring is needed to place the sign.  This eliminates coordination with a concrete contractor as well.  Second, no car stop is needed, as the bollard acts as its own car stop.  The system is flexible, and can accommodate custom sign placards.  It can also be moved easily if needed.

More Durable, Less Expensive

See detailed product information HERE. 

Proper Bollard Spacing

Originally posted at:  www.slowstop.com

We're often asked if we have any recommendations for bollard spacing.  Obviously this is a complicated question, as it depends on numerous factors, such as where the bollards are used, for what purpose, and what is the expected traffic around the bollard.  In this article I won't discuss security rated bollards, because I believe this is a science to itself that requires careful engineering and is not appropriate for a blog post.

The most important consideration for most other application will be whether or not pedestrian traffic is expected in the area, and whether or not the area is a potential emergency exit route.  The Americans with Disabilities Act often conflicts with the desired safety and security needs of the bollard spacing designer.  Spacing of bollards in any area where pedestrians might need to traverse needs to be a minimum of three feet to allow for wheelchair ingress and egress.  Four feet apart is a more common practice to allow extra clearance.  Remember to consider any objects that extend from the bollard, especially with some architectural, removable, and lighted bollards.  The three foot minimum should be between the farthest extensions of the bollard.

When protecting a utility or other object that does not require pedestrian egress, spacing can be much closer if desired.  This usually depends on the expected mass and speed of vehicles travelling in an area when compared to the strength of the bollard.  Here your most important consideration is speed of the vehicle.  Remember that energy is function of mass times speed squared, meaning that as speed increases, energy increases rapidly.  Spacing bollards tighter together, or even connecting them with cross bars, will increase the strength of the barrier.  As a rule of thumb, if the spacing between the bollards is less than twice the impact height on the bollard, strength of the bollards will double when impacted together.

An common application of this principle is the horseshoe or u-bollard, most often seen protecting fuel pumping stations.  A typical automobile vehicle bumper height is in the range of 17"-19".  Given this, in order to double the strength of the bollard, the two vertical elements should be placed roughly 34"-38" apart.  Of course the size of the fuel pumping island will impact whether or not this is feasible.

If automobile traffic is your main consideration, bollard spacing should be no more that five feet apart.  Even the smallest automobiles available will be prevented from entering at this spacing.  If fork lift or other industrial vehicles are the vehicles to be denied access, consider the width of the thinnest vehicle to be stopped and ensure that your bollard spacing is tighter than that vehicles' width.

Loading docks often use bollards to prevent trucks from impacting the building outside of the loading dock bumpers.  Standard US bays have bumper plates that have an outside dimension of  96".  This matches the outside width of most trailers and shipping containers.  Give a 6" gap on either side and space loading dock bollards 9' apart (inside dimension).  One special type of bollard, the rebounding bollard, can often be used to act as a bumper due to the fact that it gives upon impact, slowing the truck into postion.

As a final note, you should also consider the need to allow emergency vehicle access to an area.  If this is required, you may need to have at least on area with a wide spacing, or at a minimum, a removable bollard that can be quickly removed in order to allow for emergency access to an area.