Guard rails play an essential role in improving the safety of any warehouse or manufacturing facility. They provide safe walkways for employees, allow for the development of intelligent traffic patterns, and can easily absorb accidental impacts from forklifts and other vehicles.
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If you’re in the market for a new or replacement guard rail system for your company, read on for several frequently asked questions that can help you make a more informed buying decision.
At Handle It, we carry a Heavy-Duty Guard Rail system that includes safety barriers and forklift guardrails. We tested it to withstand up to 10,000lbs at 4 mph. This system is ideal for providing your workers with a physical and bright yellow barrier to protect them from forklift and powered vehicle accidents.
How Tall Are the Posts and How Do the Rails Connect?
Our single high posts are 18” in height, and our double high posts are 43” in height. The rails are bolted together; however, you can turn them into lift-out rails with the optional lift-out adapters.
You can also bolt the lift-out adapters to the posts themselves, thereby allowing you to slide the rails in and out without having to bolt them in.
Our rails are what we call “four-way posts.” This means that they are pre-drilled on all four sides so that you can connect rails to any size.
This makes them more versatile than end posts (holes only on one side), line posts (holes on two opposite sides), or corner posts (holes on two sides to make an L shape).
We also supply plastic plugs with every post so that you can cover up the unused holes.
Yes, each guard rail comes with four ¾” x 4 ¼” long wedge anchors per post.
Guard rail measurements are always performed from the center of the post to the center of the post. This is a standard measurement for all guard rails.
For example, our 10’ rail is not actually 120”, but rather 115” because we have 5” posts. So, each half of the 5” posts added to the 115” makes up the 10’
No, if you are getting double high posts, don’t forget to order two rails in between each post.
Yes, our guard rails are rated to withstand an impact of 10,000 lbs of force moving at 4 mph. That means our rails will not deflect more than 6” when hit with that force moving at that speed.
There isn’t a standard OSHA impact rating for guard rails. The most common industry rating is the 10,000 lbs at 4 mph, but it’s not an OSHA requirement.
We offer installation through our extensive dealer network that we sell our products through. Most of our dealers will offer installation for an additional cost in addition to our guard rails.
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A 10’ section of double high guard rail usually sells for around $600, whereas a 10’ section of single high guard rail usually sells for about $350.
The life expectancy on guard rail varies. The more you hit it, the more likely you would have to replace it. However, that means it’s doing its job.
The nice thing about a guard rail system is that it’s modular in design. So, you only replace the pieces that you hit and damage.
If you have a 100’ section of guard rail and you only hit a 10’ section, you only need to replace that particular section.
A cheaper alternative to a guard rail system is warehouse floor tape. It outlines the boundaries for forklift and pedestrian traffic.
The obvious benefit to this is the price; however, the painful downside is that floor tape does not stop a forklift from hitting a pedestrian or plant assets when it crosses the line.
No, there is zero maintenance required once installed. Set it and forget it.
Handle It has over 25 years of industry experience and can provide your warehouse or manufacturing facility with dock safety and floor-mounted equipment that will protect both your workers and your expensive assets.
Our team of experts can help you find the right product you need to solve your challenges—whether it’s a highly customized system or finding a solution that fits your budget.
We have a vast network of national and international dealerships that can offer additional support, regardless of your physical location. We proudly stand behind our products and offer a one or two-year limited warranty on all materials and workmanship.
We hope we’ve provided you with answers to some of the more commonly asked questions about warehouse and manufacturing facility safety rail systems. If you’d like to learn more, contact us today.
The rails are not designed for head-on collisions; they’re designed for glancing sideways swipes. We actaully had a guy here in Austin hit a bridge rail head on at high speed about four years ago and he wnet right through it. The case was kinda weird tho’, it was an overpass that ended in a T and I think they determined the guy was drunk. I wish the article was still online, there was a great picture of a bunch of TxDOT engineers standing aroudn looking at the hole going “yep, it’s busted”.
The sloped concrete rail (either single slope or double slope) is actually designed to guide the car or truck back down to the road. Metal beam guard fence (the metal rails usually on large wooden posts) provides a transition from bridge railing to open road or is used in places where you just need a little protection (i.e. the drop-off isn’t horrible). The type of rail you use depends on the road’s design speed, the expected traffic, and possibly some aesthetic requirements.
All the bridge rail used in Texas is crash tested by the Texas Transportation Institute located out in College Station at Texas A&M. Here’s list from the TxDOT Bridge Railing Manual on the types currently used in Texas. Notice each type has a recommended design speed; that’s the speed at which the rail has been tested. I’ve seen footage of the crash tests and it’s pretty fun. At this very cool link they have some little quicktime movies of various crash tests. Notice they don’t test the rails for head on collisions, only for angled ones. If you want to see a slightly more detailed reoprt on crash testing, here’s one. (Warning: large PDF)
One of the interesting fairly recent development in rail testing concerns the type of vehicles used. Formerly passenger cars were mainly used for tests. But with the growing popularity of pick-ups and SUVs, the researchers realized that soem of the existing rails weren’t adequate. Trucks have a higher center of gravity and a rail that works for a car might not for a truck. So the standards have been revised.
OK, I realize I didn’t directly answer your question about how fast you have to be going for a head-on collision. Truthfully, I don’t know off-hand since it’s not usually a consideration (though I could calculate it if I really wanted to). The guy that went through the rail here a few years back wasn’t going all that fast, maybe 35mph but he didint’ even try to brake before he hit the rail.
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