Traffic Segregation

Traffic Barrier low level

Traffic Barrier High level

Impact barrier

Atlas Barrier

Ground Level Traffic Barrier

Traffic Barrier Double Rail

A M O R E F L E X I B L E S O L U T I O N

In a factory one small accident can lead to a verylarge bill.

A-Safe Traffic Barrier is the perfect way to avoid

unnecessary damage to your property. It will protect walls,

building supports, valuable machinery and vulnerable

equipment by repelling wayward fork lift trucks, lorries,

factory sweepers and cars.

When used in conjunction with our pedestrian rail

attachment they offer exceptional protection for personnel

and customers. Gates and Health & Safety signage can be

incorporated with the pedestrian rail attachment. The vivid

colours of our traffic barriers also make them ideal for

highlighting designated vehicle routes.

T R A F F I C B A R R I E R

C ALL 01422 344402 FAX 01422 323533 OR VIS IT www.asafe.co.uk

B A R R I E R

SIMON BRAMMALLProject Manager, Office Depot,

European Engineering, Rotherham

Within the European Engineering function of Office Depot weare moving away from the traditional steel barriers in favour of

plastic barriers. We have installed the A-Safe plastic barriers in our three newest sites in France and the UK.

Aesthetically they look good and keep on looking good. Watch a fork truck reverse into the barrier. The barrier deflectsand absorbs the impact and then returns to its original shape.

If this were a steel barrier you would be looking for the spare anchor bolts and the tin of yellow paint.

• Ideal for delineation and segregation of fork lift or vehicle traffic ways

• High impact resistance• Assembly from standard modular

components • Supplied with post floor fixings • Internal or external usage• Tested and certified to

British Standards• Strong, durable and flexible• Aesthetically pleasing• Highly visible• Easy to install • No screws or welding required• No painting• Little or no maintenance• Simple to repair• Reusable• Competitively priced

Patent pending

In line with our continuousimprovement policy wereserve the right to changeproduct specificationswithout prior notice.

An A-Fax Affiliated Company

TRAFFIC BARRIER WITH PEDESTRIAN RAIL ATTACHMENT

MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMPLIANT WITH HSC WORKPLACE REGULATIONS 1992 AND

EC WORKPLACE DIRECTIVE 89/654/EEC

Shay Lane Halifax HX3 6RLC ALL 01422 344402 FAX 01422 323533 OR V IS I T www.asafe . co .uk

Impact Barrier

Ground Level Traffic Barrier

Atlas Barrier

Traffic Barrier Double Rail

 

 

 

Traffic & Pedestrian Segregation  

• Traffic Plus Barrier 

• Traffic Barrier low level + Pedestrian Rail Attachment 

• Traffic Barrier High level + Pedestrian Rail Attachment 

• Impact barrier + Pedestrian Rail Attachment 

 

A M O R E F L E X I B L E S O L U T I O N

In a factory one small accident can lead to a verylarge bill.

A-Safe Traffic Barrier is the perfect way to avoid

unnecessary damage to your property. It will protect walls,

building supports, valuable machinery and vulnerable

equipment by repelling wayward fork lift trucks, lorries,

factory sweepers and cars.

When used in conjunction with our pedestrian rail

attachment they offer exceptional protection for personnel

and customers. Gates and Health & Safety signage can be

incorporated with the pedestrian rail attachment. The vivid

colours of our traffic barriers also make them ideal for

highlighting designated vehicle routes.

T R A F F I C B A R R I E R

C ALL 01422 344402 FAX 01422 323533 OR VIS IT www.asafe.co.uk

B A R R I E R

SIMON BRAMMALLProject Manager, Office Depot,

European Engineering, Rotherham

Within the European Engineering function of Office Depot weare moving away from the traditional steel barriers in favour of

plastic barriers. We have installed the A-Safe plastic barriers in our three newest sites in France and the UK.

Aesthetically they look good and keep on looking good. Watch a fork truck reverse into the barrier. The barrier deflectsand absorbs the impact and then returns to its original shape.

If this were a steel barrier you would be looking for the spare anchor bolts and the tin of yellow paint.

• Ideal for delineation and segregation of fork lift or vehicle traffic ways

• High impact resistance• Assembly from standard modular

components • Supplied with post floor fixings • Internal or external usage• Tested and certified to

British Standards• Strong, durable and flexible• Aesthetically pleasing• Highly visible• Easy to install • No screws or welding required• No painting• Little or no maintenance• Simple to repair• Reusable• Competitively priced

Patent pending

In line with our continuousimprovement policy wereserve the right to changeproduct specificationswithout prior notice.

An A-Fax Affiliated Company

TRAFFIC BARRIER WITH PEDESTRIAN RAIL ATTACHMENT

MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMPLIANT WITH HSC WORKPLACE REGULATIONS 1992 AND

EC WORKPLACE DIRECTIVE 89/654/EEC

Shay Lane Halifax HX3 6RLC ALL 01422 344402 FAX 01422 323533 OR V IS I T www.asafe . co .uk

Traffic Plus barrier

Traffic + Pedestrian Rail

Attachment

Impact + Pedestrian Rail

Attachment

A-Safe Armco

A-Safe Armco low level

A-Safe Armco High level

A-Safe Armco Double Rail

Polypropylene: the latest word in barrier fencing…

It’s the sort of Chinese fable they read out in school assembly. There’s this oak tree that makes fun of a reed (it’s a talking oak tree, you see) because the slightest wind makes it thrash about. Then one night a storm comes, and in the morning the oak tree is uprooted – but as the wind subsides, the reed stands up again.

There’s a hidden strength to being flexible.

Why else would car manufacturers put all that plastic into modern bodywork? When a contemporary car knocks into a piece of Armco barrier in a car park, the chances are that the bumper or wing will absorb the impact and spring back into shape. It will be scratched, of course; but you can’t avoid that. Can you?

It seems odd that it hasn’t occurred to anyone that if cars can use plastic, then car barriers might do the same.

There are two British Standards relevant to off-highway vehicle barriers: BS 6399-1(1996), and BS6180 (1999). The Standards outline design criteria for barriers, but do not restrict barriers to particular materials. BS6180 specifically states: "Clause 4 allows freedom to choose materials and methods of design and construction not specifically mentioned, subject to the provision of research data and test results".

In fact there is a company in Yorkshire – it’s called A-safe [1] – which has taken this paragraph to heart, and which has been quietly developing an extensive polypropylene vehicle barrier system for a few years now. Obviously it meets all the relevant standards; and naturally, the smarter specifiers have already latched on to it. A-safe recently won the barrier contract for the car park in the National Welsh Assembly Building - the Senedd - designed by Sir Richard Rogers.

The Senedd’s defining feature is its sustainability. Presumably they didn’t want the requirement of having to repeatedly paint scratched Armco fencing in order to maintain its visibility and prevent it from rusting. The yellow-and-black colouring of A-safe fencing you see (or – since we’re in Wales - “see you”) is inherent to the material.

But, hang on, why does ANYBODY want this kind of hassle?

Maybe it’s the assumption that ‘plastic’ fencing won’t stop a speeding car from rutting up the rose beds; but if a car can go THAT fast in a car park, then it’s a poorly designed car park. One of the key reviews on the topic [2] long ago observed that whether you use a steel barrier or even a wall "a determined

attempt by a driver to break out of the confines of the car park cannot be restrained".

A tension corrugated steel beam probably is the optimum way of deflecting a speeding car involved in a shallow impact on the motorway.

But in a car park, the literature generally assumes that any impact will be head-on, and at not much more than 16km/h (10 mph). Hit a steel beam - fixed to rigid posts that offer no deflection – under these conditions, and it will cause serious damage to the car.

The key review mentioned above ('Edge Protection in Multi-Storey Car Parks'), was occasioned by a series of incidents where barriers had failed. Noting that many older car parks had been upgraded with rigid vehicle barriers over the last 20-30 years, the review posited a scenario where a rigid barrier was suspended between the support columns of a multi-storey car park.

If a car struck the rail with sufficient force (the review suggested) it was quite feasible that the rail might sustain the impact, but that the columns could give way, causing “progressive collapse of the structure”.

What seems like the 'safest' choice – the time-honoured Armco beam – turns out to be the most disastrous option!

The A-Safe system absorbs energy by flexing. The chances are that a glancing, low speed impact will not damage a car at all. It also springs back into position; so there’s much less call for replacement parts. If a section DOES need replacing, well, A-Safe is light to carry and (by dint of its interlocking construction) easy to fit.

It is telling that – despite the growth in 4wds – safety calculations for vehicle restraints still assume a vehicle weight that was established 20 years ago; namely 2,500kg. This is because the ‘centroid position’ (ie the centre of a car’s mass) is lower than it once was, thanks to "the use of lightweight body shells and increased use of plastics"!

The most inflexible feature here – it turns out - is not the barrier; it’s rigid thinking.

Most people who want a device to clean their carpet would go shopping for a Hoover. They would not be offended, however, if a salesman showed them a Dyson. Unfortunately when people ask for ‘Armco’, they don’t yet get given the option of polypropylene barriers.

‘Hoover’ of course, is a trade name. It specifically refers to a device that actually works on a different principle to a Dyson. Which is ironic, because ‘Armco’ merely suggests ANY KIND of corrugated metal barrier – it implies no specification (there’s no mention of it in the British Standards, for instance).

The word is actually a trademark of the American Rolling Mill Company, which was founded at the end of the 19th Century and now belongs to the giant AK Steel Holdings Corporation. Originally ‘Armco’ referred to a type of ‘rust-resisting’ steel developed for fence wire exactly 100 years ago. It became widely used for many outdoor applications: one of them being barrier and guard rails.

In the UK (and a few other parts of the world) the usage has become ‘generic’. The TV racing commentator Murray Walker is supposedly to blame for this. Now he’s retired, it’s just possible that Armco will once again be known as a specific type of ingot steel; and that it

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won’t go the way of other trademarks such as Breathalysers, Bubble Wrap, and even Petrol (which was originally sold in small bottles in the 19th C. as a treatment for lice!).

And of course companies like A-Safe might play their part, too.

You’d hope that a vehicle barrier system that meets BS standards, can deflect a vehicle without ripping a wing off, springs back into shape after impact, and doesn't need painting after even the slightest collision would encourage a FEW specifiers to be a little more flexible in their choice of words.

And you know what they say about “little acorns”…

References

1. A-Safe (UK) Ltd, Shay Lane, Halifax West Yorkshire HX3 6RL. www.asafe.co.uk

2. DETR: Edge Protection in Multi-storey Car Parks. Partners in Innovation Scheme contract ref: 39/3/570/CC1806. Oct 2001

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A-Safe Armco Low Level & High Level

A-Safe Armco Double Rail