Page 84 - Security Today, May/June 2021

"Active systems are preferable to ones that
must be initiated to prevent access because
they are more secure." By Greg Hamm
Protecting Hospital Visitors
A moveable system keeps the barrier up to enhance more secure access
Healthcare Campus
When a Mercedes-Benz SUV plowed into another unsus- pecting vehicle and shot through the lobby of the emer- gency room in Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital’s last June, four people were injured and one died. Not all were staff and patients. Jane Bailey was at Piedmont that day wait- ing on a friend whom she had taken to the ER and ended up spending 30 days in rehabilitation receiving treatment for the injuries she sus- tained in the incident.
Next came the inevitable legal pursuits. Could the attorney file a claim against the driver, and the hospital, over the results of this crash? Had the hospital reviewed the safety of vehicles at the hospital? Should it have installed security posts or barriers that would better protect people?
"An emergency room is a high-traffic area," Jane Lamberti, who is an attorney with The Cochran Firm, who represents Bailey, told the court. "You are going to have people who are driving up that may be ill or confused. It's foreseeable that they're going to lose control of the car. At the same time, you have patients and pedestrians going in and out of the emergency room. You know this situation is going to be there and you must take steps to protect the pedestrians and the patients."
A Variety of Bollards to Meet any Circumstance
Bollards are aesthetically pleasing and will allow pedestrians to move between them in non-roadway applications. Bollard systems operate individually or in groups. Moveable bollards, which can go up and down, are used for intermediate level security applications. Buyers can specify ornamental steel trim attached directly to the bollard or select cast aluminum sleeves, which slip right over the crash tube.
In most cases, designers create bollard systems to keep the bollard in the "up position" to stop vehicles from entering and lower the bol- lard to let cars and trucks through. When designing such systems, also consider whether to use a passive or active system. An active moveable system keeps the barrier in the up position but must be deactivated to permit access. Active systems are preferable to ones that must be initiated to prevent access because they are more secure.
Bollard systems operate individually or in groups up to 10, and are used for intermediate level security applications. Individual bollards are up to 12.75 inches in diameter, up to 35 inches high and are usu- ally mounted on 3-5 foot centers. They are tested to stop and destroy an attacking vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds moving at 65 miles per hour or a 20,000-pound vehicle moving at 46 miles per hour.
Fixed post bollards are available to secure the sides of roadways with the same crash rating and appearance as their moveable cousins. With them, facility managers can easily install bollards on shallow substrates, including those that are not level or have turns.
Versus cement barriers such as posts and pots, many campuses prefer fixed post bollards for several reasons. When hit, cement posts and pots can explode, literally spreading shrapnel throughout the
crowd, potentially creating numerous injuries.
Shallow foundation bollards can be installed within sidewalks or
on top of concrete deck truss bridges as well as conform to the inclines and turns of a locale. They also meet the 1-meter clearance regulations mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Portable Bollards
Individual portable bollards provide vehicle barricades in applica- tions such as heavily travelled walkways and roadways or any area that a vehicle can get through. They can also be used as substitutes until permanent bollard systems get installed.
Ten portable bollards can be linked together with a cable system and placed on a road's surface to create immediate protection for a span of 40 feet. No other installation procedures, excavations or sub- surface preparations are required. Certified testing demonstrates that a portable bollard will stop and disable a 15,000 pound vehicle travel- ing at 50 mph, resulting in an ASTM M50, P3 rating.
The portable bollard marks a new standard in crowd protection containing and stopping 1.2 million foot pounds of attacking truck. The portable bollard array requires no foundation or site preparation and can be used for permanent or temporary vehicle control. The bollards can be set up on any stable surface such as concrete, asphalt, compacted soil or vegetation.
The temporary bollards can be used to close off streets, entrances or wide expanses such as access to pedestrian areas or even airport runways. They can be installed in conjunction with portable barri- cades to fill in any gaps to protect people and critical infrastructures at public events such as parades, festivals, sporting weekends and any place that vehicles could attack transitory events. The combination of the portable barriers with the new portable bollards provides fast controlled vehicle access without the time and labor of installation.
Do not deploy non-certified bollards. Without adequate testing, there is no assurance that the barrier will resist the threat. Testing is normally by an independent testing company or government agency, such as the State Department and the military. Comprehensive
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