Commercial and Industrial
The Calbah Safety Barrier
By
Calbah Industries Pty Ltd
Description
The Calbah Safety Barrier offers a new approach to preventing accidental falls from the walkways in tram-car repair depots. Typically such walkways are raised to allow easy access to the cars by maintenance crews and falls onto the rails have been a frequent occurrence. To improve on the conventional ‘post and chain’ barriers we worked with the depot OH&S; teams to design an entirely original robust but removable Safety Barrier which protects workers from falls but allows easy access to the cars. Now successfully fitted in five Melbourne tram and rail-car repair depots, the Calbah Safety Barrier has many applications.
Key Features
and/or Benefits
The barrier is formed from a series of units: each comprised a pillar and two gates. The pillar base-plates are secured directly to the walkway platform using conventional concrete anchor bolts. The base of the robustly manufactured mild steel pillar slides into the base-plate and is locked firmly in place by turning the eye-bolt located on top of the pillar. The generous dimensions of the base-plate flange give strength and stability to the arrangement but the pillar can be quickly removed when necessary. The base-plate edges are bevelled to reduce the potential trip hazard when the pillars are removed.
The lightweight aluminium barrier gates are hung on the pillars using shrouded journal hinges with the gates of adjacent units meeting and locked together by robust ‘D’ hoops to form a continuous barrier. The hinges only allow the gates to open away from the cars thus improving rigidity and eliminating the possibility of damage to the car. The hinge shrouding prevents airborne sand (a regular feature of tram maintenance) from entering the bearings. With their outer ends supported on nylon casters, the gates can open fully 180° to fold safely back against the barrier
Each unit, comprising a pillar and two gates, can be removed with ease. The gates are opened and locked together. The pillar is released by unscrewing the eyebolt and then slid from its base-plate. A caster fitted at the pillar base is lowered into position which also ‘jacks’ the pillar off the ground. Weighing only 17kg, the unit may then be wheeled away on its three casters. Replacement is equally simple thus ensuring that a robust safety barrier is in place whenever there is a drop hazard but that full access to the cars can be provided when needed.
The Safety Barrier design was developed by Calbah Industries’ designers working closely with multiple OH&S; team to maximise the functionality and safety of the end design. The pillar securing eye-bolt is of small dimensions to minimise unauthorised opening and the base plate designed to ‘push through’ accumulated sand. Having been positively assessed by Worksafe, the Safety Barrier exceeds the requirements of Australian Standard AS1657-1992 thus offering robust protection against all eventualities.
Care has been given to the fairness of form of the Calbah Safety Barrier design to ensure that there are no sharp corners or other contact hazards and the barrier is finished in a bright safety-yellow colour to add visual awareness to physical safety. Variations on the standard design include gates of longer length and fixed or non-opening ‘gates’.
