An operative stood on the gate daily, and the only task he was expected to carry out was to operate the barriers. Doing such a job bred boredom and isolation, which led to an increase in mobile phone usage on site. Mobile phone use is one of the biggest causes of incidents across the industry due to the operative’s concentration being taken away from their surroundings and therefore missing hazards on site. The remote controlled barrier removes the person from the gate and moves him back into the working gang.
From a control point, the supervisor has the key fob remote, which lifts and drops the barrier on demand. The key fob has a 200 metre line of sight capability to the barrier, so can be used on linear sites like smart motorways. This barrier with the remote ensures that the supervisor is always in control. When a vehicle stops at the barrier, the supervisor can inform the team to move to a position of safety and then from a distance let the vehicle through. Once passed he can then lower the barrier, thus securing the work area to safely carry out tasks.
The barrier itself is a very visual solution – it is seen well in night and day, and it covers the majority of the verge, so that it does not allow the opportunity for a vehicle to simply go around causing unauthorised entry. Due to its size, when set up it cannot be simply moved out of the way like a traditional pedestrian barrier, which is ideal for preventing unauthorised entry to the work area.
The barrier is easily packed up when not in use, and can be loaded into a normal size van once broken down, eliminating any manual handling issues, as the barrier arm itself can be lengthened and shortened to suit the size of area it needs to fit into.
Entry submitted by Kier.
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