What are Chapter 8 Barriers?

When you need to protect the public, or workers from a hazardous activity or situation, Chapter 8 barriers provide a fast, flexible, and highly visible modular solution.

Chapter 8 fencing is designed to be lightweight and cost-effective while being sturdy enough to resist unauthorised access. As a minimum standard, the barriers will be brightly coloured and supplied with a reflective band for increased visibility in low-light conditions.

Why are they called Chapter 8 Barriers?

The answer is simple; they are named after Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual; Traffic Safety Measures and Signs for Road Works and Temporary Situations. This official document details the acceptable layouts for traffic management, what signs to use and where to position them.

It is a shorthand that tells you that these barriers comply with the relevant legislation.

What are Chapter 8 Barriers made of?

Chapter 8 Barriers are usually made from resilient, durable hard plastic, with heavy, weighted feet that fold flat for easy portability.

What makes them Chapter 8 compliant?

The barriers need to conform to British Standards, BSEN8442 for the barrier, and the anti-trip feet, and BSEN12899-1 for the high visibility reflective strip.

Chapter 8 pedestrian barriers also need to be a minimum of one metre in height. The Wade, Firmus barrier is also 2 metres long and 50mm thick, which makes it a robust, compliant choice.

What are Chapter 8 Barriers used for?

Chapter 8 Barriers can be used in a wide range of situations, from crowd control at events to protection of the public on the highway.

Traffic Management Barriers

They can be used as part of a traffic management scheme, both public-facing and within a construction site. The high visibility of the plastic barriers serves to help segregate workers from plant, and pedestrians from ongoing works.

It is good to note the following:

• Any temporary public pedestrian walkways should be an absolute minimum of 1m in width and at least 1.5m where possible.
• Pedestrians must never be directed into hazardous situations, so take time to carefully plan any route or diversion.
• Take crossing points and kerbs into consideration too.

Excavation Protection Barriers

The UK Working at Height regulations states that workers must be protected against any possibility where ‘a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury’. This statement includes excavations or other holes in the ground such as drain openings.

Chapter 8 Barriers are ideal for use when carrying out routine maintenance or inspection works that might require the opening up of manholes or other pavement-mounted inspection covers.

Similarly, it is advisable to fence off excavations, trenches, foundations, footings or other holes within a construction site that could present a hazard.

Remember to set up the Chapter 8 barriers at least a metre from the edge of the hole in case of failure. If a barrier should topple, it must not be able to fall into the excavation.

Crowd Control Barriers

Chapter 8 is great for use in fast-moving situations where a queueing system might need to be deployed rapidly, or when a crowd needs to be directed from one point to another.

• The high visibility of Chapter 8 pedestrian barriers means that routes can be picked out easily.
• The lightweight construction of the barriers makes them fast to deploy.
• The interlocking design helps to secure them against unauthorised access.

The fact that these barriers are designed to be compliant with legislation makes them ideal for public events that need to fulfil license, insurance or other legal requirements.

Visible Safety and Security Barriers

Brightly coloured barriers, with a reflective strip, make efforts to segregate and keep people safe on a construction site, at an event, or adjacent to temporary street works almost completely impossible to ignore.

Chapter 8 barriers are easy to see on time-lapse or remote monitoring webcams too, so any movement, realignment, or other tampering will show up when a site is being monitored at a distance.

In poor or low-light conditions, the reflective strip stands out when struck by vehicle headlights and reflects streetlamps effectively too.

The individual barriers link together and can be weighted for improved security. They are often used with traffic cones as part of a traffic management scheme for a construction site or for roadworks.

Chapter 8 Flexibility

As well as being portable at just over 11kg each, the barriers are also ideal for use on uneven ground. The hook and eye connections are flexible enough to allow for variations in slope and can easily cope with the change in level from pavement to roadway.

The folding foot means that the barriers can be easily stacked on a pallet or stillage for simple transport from one part of a site to another, or from site to store.

An ideal temporary solution to rapidly changing site conditions, Chapter 8 barriers are your flexible friend, mobile, compliant, durable, and cost-effective. Call us today to find out how quickly you can get your Chapter 8 barriers delivered kerbside to your job.