Why Risk Public Safety With Dangerous Imports of Safety Barriers?

Dangerous Imports

Low cost imports are a matter of fact in today's economy and our industry is no less affected than any other. The past few years have seen an increasing number of products both branded and unbranded entering the market from low costs regions, typically the Far East. As a manufacturer that has always traded on the quality of our designs, materials, and service we have chosen not to take this route however we recognize that some resellers and even traditional US manufactures have chosen to take a "low specification/low cost" approach and it is up to the customer to decide whether these products represent value for money.

However we are very concerned over the number of products entering the market that are potentially dangerous and would like to bring your attention to the critical safety factors you should be aware of. All retracting belt barriers should have a braking system and an anti-tamper locking belt end. The anti-tamper locking belt end stops the belt being released accidentally, particularly important in environments frequented by children. The other is a braking system, for without it when the belt is released the force from the coiled spring will cause the belt to 'whip' back behind the post, potentially causing injury to bystanders. Imagine a child whose eye line is about post height - the risk of an eye injury to a child is unthinkable.

The Lawrence Tensabarrier product has the most advanced braking system available and an anti-tamper locking belt ends as standard. Other American manufacturers also have brakes on their products but surprisingly locking tape ends are not always standard. Some imports also have brakes of varying degrees of efficiency but many do not. Having products on the market without these critical safety features does a disservice to the whole industry. Eventually the importers/distributors of these dangerous stanchions will be subject to personal injury claims and will probably desist but in the meantime the reputation of retracting belt stanchions as a safe, effective means of pedestrian guidance is likely to be undermined.

We strongly urge buyers of stanchions to ensure the products they are buying have effective brakes and anti-tamper locking belt ends, to the importers and distributors of dangerous stanchions we say, you can source low cost Far Eastern products with brakes - why risk public safety?

submitted by Tonya Harmati Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tonya_Harmati