Pedestrian barriers are specific types of road safety railings to guide and protect pedestrian movements in an area. You can also use them in other areas involving works or events with pedestrian access.

But there are standard sets of rules and regulations regarding the pedestrian barriers considerations. You must follow them to install the barriers to ensure the pedestrian’s safety properly.

Figure 1 – A Typical Pedestrian Barrier

destrian barriers are important for the following reasons:

• To secure a safe pathway:In certain areas, the pedestrians may be at risk of hazards from traffic or other objects. Pedestrian barriers are important so that you can isolate and secure a safe pathway for pedestrians.
• Comply with standard regulations:You must comply with legal regulations for specific sectors to set up pedestrian barriers following particular guidelines.
• Crowd control:Pedestrian barriers are important to control the crowd gatherings in important areas. In areas with or without any risk of safety hazards, use the pedestrian barriers to create sections and specify functionality in each area.
  Moreover, you can control an efficient movement flow and fixed directions for the pedestrians. A separate and dedicated pathway will reduce confusion. This will facilitate a smooth pedestrian movement flow.
• Ensure safety at construction zones:Perhaps one of the most common usages of pedestrian barriers is construction zones. You can use the pedestrian barriers that are suited for roadside usage. Use them to secure a temporary perimeter that should be off-limits from pedestrian access.

The different types of pedestrian barriers are:

• Steel single-leg flat base barrier to set up in soft flooring areas
• Steel fixed cross-leg barrier for quick and easy setup on areas with hard floors
• Walkthrough barriers to create entry points
• The plastic boss barrier for heavy-duty application
• Pedestrian barrier chains for low-height, heavy-duty service.
• The water-filled barrier for road works safety and better stability.

Figure 2 – Water-filled Safety Pedestrian Barrier

• Plastic navigator barrier with reflective signage for low-light/night usage
• Avalon barrier for multiple colors with high visibility feature
• Retractable barriers for quick width adjustment feature
• The frontier barrier for pedestrian safety at construction sites
• Utility barriers to create a safety perimeter around any utility

Figure 3 – Utility Barrier

Each material is special, with some unique properties. So, different materials are used to manufacturing pedestrian barriers that serve best for various functionalities, include:

1. Metal pedestrian barriers
● Steel pedestrian barriers:
The steel pedestrian barriers are extremely strong. They can offer a very high-strength and shock-absorbing capacity to keep pedestrians safe from any sudden impact. So, steel pedestrian barriers and stainless steel pedestrian barriers are your ideal choice to offer higher levels of protection to pedestrians.

In general, hot rolled mild steel is used to manufacture steel pedestrian barriers. You can get different qualities of surface finishing for better durability.
For example, if you want to use them in extreme conditions, galvanised pedestrian barriers or powder-coated pedestrian barriers should be your ideal choice. They are highly resistant to corrosion and deterioration. So you don’t have to worry about the durability of them.

● Aluminum pedestrian barriers：

Aluminum has increasingly become an indispensable material for pedestrian road safety barrier In recent years due to its many beneficial properties.
1) A high strength-to-weight ratio. Aluminum offers almost similar strength to steel but is extremely lightweight. It also makes stransporting and storing much easier. So, you can easily transport them to your installation location.
2) Highly resistant to corrosion. The thick layer of aluminum oxide can helps the barricades resisting corrosion of rain, snow and salt as well as toxic substances such as oil and gasoline. So, you can enjoy the benefits of high durability as well.

2. Plastic pedestrian barriers
Nowadays, plastic pedestrian barriers are growing more and more popular every day. You can adapt the plastic barriers for so many versatile application scopes. This makes them an ideal choice in the global market.
● HDPE pedestrian safety barriers
The current global standards are also highly focusing on plastic barriers. They especially focus on pedestrian barriers manufactured with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) due to the recyclable feature. It reduces the negative impacts on the environment.

● Vinyl event fence
Portable vinyl event fence panels interlock to create a contiguous crowd control barrier. The smooth surfaces have stylish look and feel. They are used in situations where the aesthetics are just as crucial as crowd control, like gardens, golf courses, and weddings.
Compared with HDPE, vinyl is thinner and less able to be customised. In addition, vinyl barriers are becoming fragile when there’s significant fluctuation in temperature especially in tough cold weather.

3. Concrete jersey barrier
The precast concrete jersey barriers are designed to offer maximum durability and minimum maintenance. With feature forklift slots at the bottom, they are easily be lifted and then redirected.
As in the cases of road construction, the concrete barriers act excellent in separating lanes of traffic and prevention of vehicle intrusion into the work zone.

Pedestrian barriers are used to guide and protect the pedestrian in an area. To offer optimum protection, you must ensure that the pedestrian barrier you are using has sufficient height. Different manufacturers produce pedestrian barriers with different heights based on functionality.

They follow the standard sizes that are suitable for the type of barrier and their application. The pedestrian barriers should be of a height similar to or more than the waist level. They should not be too high, as this will reduce the visibility.

So, you will find most of the pedestrian barriers with a height just above the waist level. You can find typical pedestrian barriers with a height starting from 900 mm to 1300 mm. Some pedestrian barriers may have higher or lower heights based on specific functionality.

Pedestrian barrier is something that you are bound to come across in your daily life whether it’s in the industrial/commercial building site, a roadworks construction site or the scene of an accident.

Barricades can be served as a warning of the dangers, or as a crowd control barrier.
Different manufacturers offer different materials and sizes of the pedestrian barricade in many different colors, but OSHA and ANSI provide the precise specifications for barricade colors.
Red / white should be used for Fire Prevention and Protection Equipment in OSHA standards.
As the ANSI specified colors, red indicates DANGER and SERIOUS HAZARD for overhead work, live electrical components, scaffolding under construction, or equipment with a rotating superstructure.
Health and safety regulations state in the UK that markings should be placed around obstacles or dangerous locations that will present a risk, such as the area of people tripping or falling, objects falling or people or vehicles colliding with objects. These barrier markings should be made up of alternating red and white or yellow and black stripes.

It’s important to be known what the red and white pedestrian barriers stand for, especially if you are on the worksite. If you notice that barriers have been knocked down, or removed, report it to the superintendent or supervision department immediately, maybe you can help to avoid a hazard of serious consequences.