How to find the perfect precast safety barrier supplier? A safety barrier’s only purpose is to stop from breaking down when it is tested, and to absorb or bend the force of impact when necessary and when it’s in place.
If it does, no one knows.
If not, the problem is not always the concept of precast barriers, it’s usually the precast barrier supplier who designed and manufactured them!
This guide deals with how to assess a precast safety barrier supplier in order to get barriers you can actually count on, not look at in the yard and then be disappointed when it’s needed.
The Selection of a Supplier Is Not Just Based on the Length and Weight Per Unit
The first thing most buyers look at is unit length, weight, and price. But that is a good but not a complete starting point because it doesn’t take into account how the supplier designs and reinforces a barrier to ensure it performs to a recognised safety performance standard, or how they manage to manufacture it to that standard consistently, not just the first few off the mould.
Safety barriers have a time they are built for – the crash – and when they crash, it does. No gradual “failed to see it and fix it later” nor a second chance to get the design right after installation. A supplier considers safety barriers a certified product line and designs and manufacturers for one single moment — when someone will attempt to throw or jump one. A person who doesn’t will sell you a barrier that looks just like the real thing, but hasn’t been engineered or verified to work like the real barrier.
Understand Which Sort of Barrier Your Project Requires
Firstly, it’s important to understand what type of safety barrier your project needs and how it is expected to perform, as each use case has varying application and performance requirements.
Road and Highway Barriers
Road and highway barriers are barriers that are installed between traffic lanes or to protect roadside hazards and are usually required to comply with a road safety barrier performance standard for containment and redirection. These require documentation of crash test performance or design certification to match traffic speed and volume of application.
Work Zone Barriers, Construction
Work zone barriers are used to keep people and workers safe from potential hazards at an active construction or roadwork site, and are likely to be set up and removed multiple times throughout the project. They are used more frequently than permanent installations, and these emphasize ease of handling and repositioning as well as their protective performance.
Perimeter and Anti-Ram Barriers
Perimeter barriers erect a physical barrier around a specific site to prevent vehicles from entering for security or public safety purposes. They must have a resistance to impact at a certain speed and weight as they are designed to stop a vehicle and not just deflect it.
Pedestrian Safety Barriers
Pedestrian barriers are not required to withstand a substantial hit from vehicles, but instead are used to keep people away from vehicles and/or hazardous areas. They focus on stability, levelness and application to regular public use as opposed to the more dynamic engineering of vehicle-rated barriers.
If you can determine the category — and performance level — for your project, you can trim the number of suppliers to those that can prove they have the experience of meeting the required performance level for that application — not just a precast supplier that supplies barriers as an add-on to a catalogue.
Questions: What Is the Design Standard? What Is Certified?
A supplier who takes their manufacturing of safety barriers seriously will be able to give a clear answer that their barriers are manufactured and tested to a recognized standard and have proof to back it up – not a blanket statement of “safety rated.” It’s not something that can be accepted on faith for a product that is designed to be protective.
Specifically ask about the standard or containment level that the barrier is certified to, the testing or certification body that verified this performance, and if they can be given the actual certification for the specific product you are purchasing. The supplier who offers it with a smile on his face is one to be taken seriously. If a supplier is unclear, or can only provide certification for another product in their range, or is unable to provide documentation at all, then the supplier is not to be trusted for a safety-critical structure.
Analyze Their Manufacturing Consistency to Certified Design
Certification is for a particular design and manufacturing process, not the general concept of “a barrier like this one.” Inquire about how the supplier assures that all products off the line are the same as the original design, reinforcement and dimensions tested and approved; and what happens if units from a batch are found to be different?
A supplier who is a true quality control is going to consider any barrier that is not a duplicate of the tested design as if it is not the same as the tested design, even if it appears to be similar. Specifically ask what is the inspection and sign off procedure that insures each batch is the same as the certified specification before shipment.
Look at Their Manufacturing Quality Control in a More Thorough Manner
In addition to the certified design, the overall manufacturing discipline is also important. Inquire into casting methods, curing methods and times, and what checks are made prior to the batch being dispatched.
When it comes to safety barriers, consistency over a big order is as important as the quality of any individual barrier because a barrier-run is as reliable as its weakest link. Ask what checks ensure that all the units in a large order are the same quality as the sample or test unit, and not just a spot check on a sample size of the batch.
Ask Whether There Is a Connection/Continuity Between the Units
The vast majority of applications of safety barrier depend upon a series of units being connected end-to-end and the manner in which the units are connected is a determinant of overall safety barrier performance, as a single unit may perform well on impact, but the whole system can fail if the units separate or misalign. Inquire about the connection between the units and whether the connection detail was provided at the time of the original certified testing; and the installation tolerance needed to ensure that the connection performs as required.
A supplier that is able to articulate how their connection system was integral to the tested and certified design is showing engineering integrity. A supplier that considers the connection as an afterthought or separate from the certified barrier design is lacking in system performance.
The Design Needs to Be Reviewed to Ensure That Requirements Are Met When It Comes to Installation
Specific parameters of the installation (anchoring, spacing, foundation, or free-standing) for which the performance was tested are applied to determine certified performance. Prior to installing, ask what conditions the certification is based on, if your intended installation is similar to these conditions, and what happens if your installation deviates from these conditions.
Just because the unit itself is the same as the one tested, the installation of a certified barrier outside the conditions for which it was certified can lead to a loss of performance guaranteed by the certification. It is a detail that you must check with your supplier and, if appropriate, your project’s safety engineer.
Check Their References and Track Record
Certification documentation provides you with information about a supplier’s barriers and what they are designed and tested to achieve. Delivered projects inform you what they have actually provided and how dependable. Request case studies of comparable safety barrier installations, especially those with performance needs similar to yours and the length of time the barriers have been operating.
It is not just a test report that demonstrates a supplier’s reliability, but repeated, verified barriers that they have consistently supplied.
Red Flags Worth Watching For Precast Safety Barrier Supplier
Less reliable suppliers of safety barriers often present the following set of warning signals:
- They can’t provide the certification paperwork for the particular safety barrier in question.
- They can provide it, but the answer keeps changing about which standard it applies to.
- They don’t have a clear process for ensuring batch consistency with the certified design.
- They are selling the product at a price so much lower than the price of certified safety barrier suppliers that there is no explanation of the price difference.
As safety barriers are there for a purpose, these warnings should not be ignored lightly, and two or more in one warning is a good indication to walk away, don’t walk through.
Integrating All the Elements Precast Safety Barrier Supplier
The key is to ensure that the barriers are actually designed, tested and certified to a recognised standard for the application you have in mind and that the supplier uses the right production discipline on each and every barrier, not just the ones that are tested.
If you get this right, the barrier is what it is supposed to be, and will serve its purpose during the one moment it needs to be.
