Using Bollards in the Workplace for Additional Safety

Pro Traffic Supply

Traffic bollards are generally thought of as being used to control the flow of traffic in areas where pedestrians and buildings need to be kept safe, but they’re also often used in other applications, such as within industrial workspaces. Places like warehouses, factories, and paid parking lots all use bollards to ensure more security and safety.

Warehouses

In warehouses where there are areas that need to be separated, heavy duty plated bollards work well because employees can still get to the area easily. Bollards can section off spaces in the warehouse without requiring walls to be built. They can also be used to regulate the accessibility of entryways such as garage doors.

Factories

Factories that have a lot of heavy machinery in them can benefit greatly from installing concrete or stainless steel bollards. Bollards warn employees about a machine—they can boost safety by preventing someone from accidentally getting too close and getting injured. And because OSHA guidelines dictate that industrial bollards need to be a specific shade of yellow, commonly referred to as “OSHA yellow,” it’s unlikely that an employee would be able to miss the warning.

Paid or Regulated Parking Lots

Parking lots that require clearance by way of either a badge or a paid attendant often use traffic bollards to control who enters the lot. These bollards may also have gates that have to be lifted in order to allow cars to pass through, or they may stick out from the ground and only be lowered when a car needs to pass over them. Regulating parking lots in this manner ensures no one can enter the lot who is not supposed to be there, and it does so in a highly efficient way. If the parking lot ever needs to be unrestricted, removable bollards provide the perfect solution.

Common Uses for Traffic Bollards Besides Storefronts

If you’re a shop owner or security manager, you know all about how traffic bollards in front of shop doors and windows or garages can prevent damage from cars that lose control or people intentionally trying to crash into buildings (either to vandalize the building or to create a way to burglarize the store), but bollards are used for plenty of other places to control traffic and keep people safe.

Paths in Forest Preserves

In forest preserves, there are often paths paved over for people who wish to ride their bikes, rollerblade, or walk/run alongside nature. Of course, not everyone lives close enough to these paths to simply walk or ride their bikes there, so there are generally parking lots for cars so that people can drive to the forest preserve, then bike, run, etc. on the provided paths. In order to keep cars in their designated lanes, people in charge of park safety have traffic channelizers installed at the entryways to the bike paths so that drivers know they aren’t supposed to be driving on those paved paths. This keeps pedestrians safe.

Event Security

When there’s a special event coming through your town, you might notice bollards blocking off areas that typically allow cars to pass through. Removable bollards are great for special event security, as they can be put up and taken down as needed. Removable security bollards are also great for places that need to be blocked off normally but occasionally need to allow vehicles in—for example, if a venue needs to accommodate for event equipment to load in.

City Bike Lanes

Bike lanes, though usually unprotected, could benefit from having bollards installed on the edges. Traffic bollards would protect cyclists from cars and vice versa, keeping all people in the street safer. In some instances, bollards are used in conjunction with clearly painted lines indicating a lane is specifically for bikes.

Security Bollards Offer a Variety of Protection

Most people probably pay little attention to the various devices that help to keep us safe on the road each day. Although traffic lights, stop signs, and painted traffic lanes play a prominent, high-profile, and sometimes frustrating role in our daily lives, there are many other safety devices that are just as important to road safety, but are much less obvious to the casual observer. For instance, guard rails keep traffic moving in opposite directions separated, staving off head-on collisions; and channelizers and traffic drums let drivers know that there is construction, to slow down, and exercise extreme caution. Bollards, despite their bright colors, are another great example of these more subtle safety devices. Bollards come in permanent, removable, and surface mount varieties.

 

Permanent Embedded Bollards

While there is a considerable amount of effort made to prevent vehicle collisions and road construction tragedies, there is also great attention paid to reducing the likelihood of vehicles destroying static objects or hitting pedestrians. Traffic bollards, while often hidden in plain sight, play an important role in protecting equipment such as exposed AC units, ATMs, parking garage ticket dispensers, and pedestrian lanes. In many cases, bollards are permanently embedded into the ground 3-4 feet below the surface (much like the way a basketball hoop is cemented in place). Embedded bollards are used in areas where there is little to no chance they would ever need to be removed. However, in certain situations, there is a need for bollard security to be more adaptive.

 

Removable Embedded Bollards

Although bollards can serve as a first line of security for truck docking stations and loading garage openings when not in use, they do little good if the use of a docking station or loading garage is denied by a permanently installed bollard. This is where removable embedded bollards can come in handy. Removable bollards offer the same amount of security as their static, permanently fixed cousins, but are quickly and easily removed when necessary. As such, they make for a perfect security addition in areas such as docking stations, preventing determined thieves and other unauthorized vehicles from backing up to loading stations. Of course, removability is only a desirable quality if it’s exclusive to the person or persons responsible for managing a warehouse or business. As such, embedded removable bollards have a locking mechanism which allows them to be securely removed and replaced by simply turning a key and removing a padlock. When removed, the empty hole can be covered by a built-in cover and locked in place.

 

Surface Mount Bollards

Surface mount bollards, also known as surface plate bollards, are permanently fixed to the ground. While they are placed in permanent places like their embedded brothers, they are not embedded into the ground, but instead bolted to concrete surfaces. Surface plate bollards are preferred over permanently embedded bollards in areas like multi-level parking garages as they don’t compromise the structural integrity of the foundation as much as the deep holes used in permanent embedding. Surface mount bollards are also optimal for adding crash security to areas that may have been overlooked during initial construction, or to protect quickly developed pedestrian lanes on city streets, saving the extra time and money needed to otherwise dig holes for permanent installation.
While technology will always continue to change our means of transporting people and goods, safety and security will always be needed. So until cars can fly, bollards will always serve a purpose in the ongoing endeavor to keep us safe during travel and supporting the transportation of goods needed to drive the American economy. And who knows, by that point bollards may have evolved as well- giving rise to air bollards to protect those soaring cars!

About the Author:
Pro Traffic Supply sells traffic safety devices, including all types of bollards, through their website, www.protrafficsupply.com. Pro Traffic supply has products featured on their website in stock at low prices, and all bollards are proudly made in the USA with quality, care, and attention to detail.