Crowd control solutions on campus

Crowd control solutions on campus

Product News

A campus is a very active environment and not just during term time and day time. Whether busy with staff, students, service deliveries, cleaning or maintenance, areas where footfall is high mean any changes to access arrangements will impact on security and safety. What’s more, emergency situations require whole classes and crowds to be brought under control quickly and cordons established efficiently, safely and effectively.

As such, many problems can arise when even just one major access point to an institutional building, lecture hall or library, or recreational area such as dining hall needs to close - especially on campus where entrances aren’t just access points but also convenient meet-up locations for students.

Any need to take an entrance out of use means careful consideration of security, safety and awareness issues when it comes to placing barriers. In campus locations, any pedestrian segregation solution deployed needs to:

 

Best fit solution

In such situations, finding the right solution the first time is essential. So it’s useful to know in advance which products might offer the best fit for campus control, by taking the advice of a professional who knows all about barrier solutions: Michael Knibbs, managing director of SafeSite Facilities.

Michael considered all aspects of a busy campus location, alongside requirements for keeping crowds away from the site, facilitating safety whilst the overall campus and building itself remains open, despite a main building entrance being closed.

In this situation, Michael identifies the barrier solution which offers best-fit for the multiple demands of the location is Turtlegate Barriers, as SafeSite Facilities has used these highly successfully in a similar situation in a London shopping centre. These barriers offer an innovative design which facilitates the functionality and the high degree of flexibility required for campus areas of high footfall:

With two height options of 1.8m and 1.3m, barriers of 1.3m height particularly offer a good way of ensuring that the barriers can’t be breached by climbing, but do allow staff to see through and over the barriers, so that student safety and security can be monitored at all times.

This presents an ideal solution on campus where deploying heavy lifting machinery for installation of barriers isn’t an option. Instead, the efficient handling and deployment features of Turtlegates makes a good match for the conveyance and installation requirements of campus entrances and access zones.

Turtlegates have an aluminium alloy construction which is highly durable against all kinds of weather conditions, making them ideal for use outside the entrance. Inside, the rubber wheels of the gates mean minimal damage to internal floor surfaces such as tiles, meaning turtlegates offer the all-round functionality required by entrance settings.

In such situations, Turtlegates offer an excellent compromise. The rubber wheels lock for stability and individual gates can be extended and locked together to form a continuous system which is equally robust on both sides of the barrier. The alligator lock system allows access to be gained through individual sections when needed, without the risk of ‘accidental’ breaching or intentional breaches by vandals or criminals.

Turtlegate barriers fulfill all these requirements, with options of high visibility yellow or red available. These colourways are an effective choice for busy locations on campus, offering high visibility contrast against brickwork and building exteriors, whilst also providing a noticeable barricade inside.

Turtlegate barriers are also noticeable for the right reasons: delivering a smart and safe barrier solution that the ineffective provision of scruffy tapes and roped cordons cannot match.

Other visibility aspects of Turtlegate barriers also support safety monitoring at the out-of-use campus entrances, through offering visibility through the barriers. Deploying Turtlegates mean staff can monitor student crowd situations both inside and outside the entrance.

 

The right solution for the situation

On campus, Turtlegate barriers offer a highly visible, highly successful solution for crowd control. The system is also versatile in providing additional uses across campus, for instance by deploying to limit vehicle access, creating cordons for stand-back observation zones for displays and sports events, as Turtlegate barriers are easy to see, install and store, but not easy to breach or damage. Find out more about hiring or buying Turtlegate Barriers from SafeSite Facilities.