Concrete Barrier Installation in the West Midlands

Last November, SafeSite were contacted by a new Lidl distribution centre in Wednesbury, West Midlands.

The brief:

The busy nature of a distribution centre means plenty of heavy goods vehicles and lorries entering, manoeuvring, parking and exiting from the site as well as forklifts manoeuvring to assist with loading and unloading.

As these essential tasks take place within a limited proximity to workers, pedestrians and visitors, the clients required a robust barrier system which would not only offer the maximum protection to pedestrians from vehicles, but also ensure the new centre would be operating in full compliance with the required safety standards. As the barriers would need to be installed outside, it was also important that the system used should offer high levels of durability against long-term, and possibly extreme, weather conditions.

The solution:

SafeSite supplied 480m of interlocking concrete blocks from our Jersey barrier range. These barriers offer extra-wide bases for maximum stability against the continued vibration of this busy, high-traffic area, whilst the forklift-compatible grooves which form part of the design meant that installation could be relatively speedy and cause minimum inconvenience to the operations of this busy centre.

The plan was that the barriers would be delivered by our articulated lorries and unloaded by the forklifts on site, ready to be positioned. The barriers would then be customised for purpose by painting with black and yellow chevrons as this design is not only highly visible in most weather conditions, it is also the international warning design specific to vehicular traffic.

The outcome:

There was no problem with delivery as arranged, but the need for durable barrier system with weather resistance was instantly proved when a run of extremely poor weather immediately set in against the installation team. Due to this bad weather, the jersey barriers had to be taken inside initially to be painted, rather than painting outside, and heaters used to get the barriers dry and ready for duty – back out in the wet!

The forklift-grooves facilitated all of this additional movement of the barriers around the site and allowed them to be finally installed with the minimum inconvenience to the daily running of the centre. Once these were placed in situ and fully visible to protect pedestrians, the facility was able to meet the required safety standards.

In the future:

The client has enjoyed first-hand the positive, problem-solving approach of the SafeSite Facilities team in getting their barriers customised for purpose and in place – despite the unexpected poor weather. This client will also continue reap the benefits from the installation of these low-maintenance, high-quality safety barriers for years to come.