Thankfully, we have moved well beyond the historical way of thinking, which was that workers are expendable and health and safety aren’t something that one needs to concern themselves with on a daily basis. While it seems to be the fashionable thing right now to decry anything and everything related to health and safety, the fact of the matter is that most regulations have saved the lives of many and reduced life-changing injuries for an immeasurable number of people. One of the most straightforward yet highly valuable ways of achieving safety, either for worksites or in areas where there may be lots of people and an increased risk of injury, is via the use of ground rails. It might not be a sexy topic, but the simple integration of these things into the locations that make sense has been enough to keep all kinds of people safe. This is why we’re taking the time to give the humble guardrail its due and discuss just what makes it such a fantastic option for a plethora of use cases.
Guard Rails Prevent Falls And Injuries
Perhaps the first and most obvious example of how these safety devices save lives is the fact that they’ve been designed as such. With the simple act of installing them around the various areas that are most prone to falling types of injury, you can secure the location however it presents itself. Because guardrails are also an ongoing piece of safety equipment, you can also find them in all manner of designs, from a double high guardrail to secure areas that need a higher level of protection to rails that have a pure crowd control function and reduce the likelihood of large numbers of people from falling over one another. When they’re put into the right places, the probability of people falling dramatically reduces.
Essential For Worker Safety Compliance
In some situations, specific granolas may be a regulatory compliance measure that is put in place by whatever juristic you’re operating within. As we’ve already ascertained, the safety of sites and public areas is paramount, but not just for the reasons of ensuring safety. Plenty of businesses don’t want the hassle of dealing with lawsuits, whether they be workers’ compensation or from a member of the public who was injured due to straying into an active worksite, and make this kind of barrier protection a priority. For a pretty insignificant outlay relative to the cost of work going on, companies can stay compliant with the law and minimize the chances of facing some pretty heavy legal action.
Reduces Liability For Employers And Contractors
No business or local authority wants to deal with litigation, as it can distract from core operations and potentially clean out entire budgets. The fact is that even if you have the correct workplace insurance and are fully covered for all manner of issues, you might quickly find yourself given the cold shoulder by your insurance provider for not setting up the guardrails correctly or at all. To ensure that you minimize the chances of being involved in legal action or, if so, make sure you’re covered, it pays to take the time to understand the sorts of guardrails required for the job.
Segregate Pedestrians From Heavy Machinery
To follow on from that previous point slightly, sometimes a barrier is required on a worksite to stop pedestrians from wandering into a worksite and increase the likelihood of severe injury (or possibly death). While you can argue until you’re blue in the face about who might be to blame for this, when a case comes before a judge, they will always judge the company more harshly as it tends to be their responsibility to maintain safety. Even when onsite, guardrails ought to be erected around all of the static machinery and possibly even non-static but larger plants to provide an even greater level of safety for everyone in the building site, employee or otherwise.
Durable Materials Withstand Harsh Conditions, Making Them A No-Brainer
If you’re umming and ahhing about whether or not to invest in these items, there are just two things to know:
- They are a lot cheaper than dealing with litigation
- They are made using incredibly durable materials
The first point speaks for itself, and we’ve already discussed it, but regarding the second point, you can invest in a job lot and use it for years without seeing anything more than purely cosmetic damage. They are usually designed to withstand the rigors of working on job sites where the conditions are harsh and the way they’re typically handled by the contractors is harsher! This means that once you’ve spent the initial amount needed to cover the space you’re operating in, you usually won’t have to pay anything more unless the heavy equipment operator reverses over them (in which case you’ve probably got other problems to deal with first).
Easy Installation For Immediate Protection
Regardless of whether you’re setting these devices up for the purpose of pedestrian control or worksite management, they have been developed so that anyone on the team can throw them up and guard off specific locations. Even if you opt for the interlocking guardrails, you’ll find that they’re straightforward to link up, and it’s easy to train people who have never even used them before.
Enhance Visibility In Low-Light Areas
For ultimate protection, some guardrails are layered with reflective materials so that when vehicles pass by, light is reflected back, warning them of the fact that they’re near them. This is great for job sites that operate night and day but also for all businesses that work in low-light conditions or into the night and need to control crowds of people.
Customizable Designs For Various Environments
Depending on the situation, you might be able to jazz up your guardrails to make them slightly more appealing than the usual workplace orange that they’re made from. You will still need to double-check because some situations, like those on bundling sites, will probably stipulate how they are displayed. But if you don’t need to follow specific legislation vis a vis the design, you can sometimes place advertising and other designs along them to earn extra money or make them look more appealing to your clientele.
Guardrails might not be something discussed regularly, but they are just as critical to workplace safety as anything else. As you’ve read, they can be used in any number of scenarios, mostly to keep everyone safe by creating a phase barrier between them and possible harm.
