Professional Barrier Solutions

The parts that make a layout work

This category holds the items that do not stand on their own but without which the main kit does not function: the fixings, tapes, pins, clips, frames and weights that turn a pile of signs and cones into a layout.

They are also the items most often left off an order, because they are cheap and nobody itemises them. A crew arriving without ballast, clips or pins cannot set out a compliant layout, and the cost of the return journey exceeds the cost of the parts several times over.

Underground warning tape

A large part of this range is underground warning tape, and it does a job that pays off years later rather than on the day. Laid in the trench above a buried service and below the surface, it is what the next person digging finds before they reach the cable or the main.

Use the tape that names the service correctly, lay it at a consistent depth above the service rather than at whatever depth the backfill happened to reach, and run it continuously along the line. Detectable tape with a metallic trace lets the run be picked up by a cable avoidance tool later, which is worth the difference on anything that will be looked for again.

Weights, pins and fixings

Ballast weights are what keep a sign standing overnight in wind. One block per sign is the minimum on anything exposed, and two is sensible on a bridge, an open verge or a sign with a wide face. The blocks are a one-person lift and stack on a pallet, and a name embossed into them cuts losses on a shared site.

Road pins and fencing pins hold barrier mesh and mark out positions. Where there is any chance of buried services, use non-conductive insulated pins instead of steel, because a steel pin driven into a cable conducts straight back to the hand holding it.

Rope, cordage and cable ties fix mesh, netting and signage to fence lines. Buy the length and thickness to suit the mesh rather than doubling up thin ones, which is how a fixing comes undone in wind.

Custom and printed items

A substantial number of products here are customisable, so a message, a company name or a site-specific instruction can be applied rather than approximated with a standard sign. That is worth using for site entrances, access arrangements and contractor details, where a standard face never quite says the right thing.

For the signs themselves see temporary road signs, and for the cones and barriers they go with see traffic management.