A Derbyshire firm which develops and installs security products aimed at keeping the public safe has successfully tested its latest innovation.
Securiscape has hailed a breakthrough for road bridge safety after the latest version of its shallow-mounted pedestrian guardrail stopped an unladen 18-tonne truck travelling at 30mph.
The firm said that a 10 metre stretch of its new Guardrail Ultra, which is specifically designed to be used on bridges, has become the first product of its type to earn the much-coveted IWA-14 rating, which specifies the essential impact performance required from a vehicle security barrier.
Designing and installing barriers on bridges is challenging because products cannot be installed as deep into the surface of the pavement as in a normal street.
This has meant that thousands of metres of unsightly surface-mounted security barriers and concrete blocks have had to be used on the UK’s road bridges in the wake of terrorist attacks on pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London three years ago.
The security industry has been working hard to develop products specifically for bridges.
It is believed that Securiscape is the only company to have developed a guardrail capable of protecting pedestrians, while preventing them from stepping onto the road at locations other than crossing points, which further improves road safety.
Securiscape already has a number of its HVM guardrails on the market, all of which can protect pedestrians from vehicles mounting the pavement either accidentally or deliberately.
What makes the Guardrail Ultra version different is that it does not require holes to be excavated in order to install it.
Instead, workers remove the paving slabs and kerbstones, fix the guardrail in position and put the kerbstones and pavers back in place.
It took Securiscape staff just an hour to install the five panels and six posts used in the crash test, which took place at Mira in Leicestershire.
Mark Stone, the firm’s managing director, said: “This is a huge breakthrough for Securiscape, simply because we have achieved what many in our industry will have considered to be impossible – stopping an 18-tonne unladen NC3 truck using a shallow security fencing product.
“That’s significant, because deep-mounted bollards and similar products are not suitable for bridges due to the damage they would do to the bridge deck and services, while they cause huge inconvenience in locations where they have to be retro-fitted.”
