Using Retractable Safety Barriers in Hospitals

A hospital is often a busy place filled with people that need to get somewhere quickly. In order to keep the flow of people moving smoothly, it’s essential to use some sort of foot traffic calming measures. This is where retractable safety barriers can help, and the configuration can be adjusted to suit a variety of needs. In this article, we will examine the usefulness of safety barriers in a hospital setting.

Maintaining Operational Efficiency

Every modern healthcare facility will have multiple desks where patients and visitors can queue in order to complete a certain task. The purpose of the queue could be to pick up a medication from a pharmacy counter, to take a place for an appointment in a waiting room or to check in with an after care provider. Any desk setup to deal with people needs to be well organised to keep them safe and moving along smoothly. This will help the staff to provide excellent care and help to avoid the possibility of incidents that could cause harm or disrupt the provision of care.

Gentler Crowd Control Tools

In a hospital, you will have people that feel ill and loved ones that are concerned about their safety. Tempers can flare from time to time, but in most cases, people simply want to get to where they need to go with as little fuss as possible. For this reason, it’s understandable that a medical facility would not want to install heavy duty crowd barriers. After all, this isn’t a footie match or a rock concert, and metal crash barriers would be total overkill. A heavy handed approach could even have a negative effect on the patient and visitors, and no hospital visitor wants to feel like they are visiting a prison. Luckily, there are some excellent crowd control tools available that can gently nudge a person to where they need to be.

The most common type of flexible barrier is the retractable belt system. This is often used in banks to facilitate better queueing habits as a customer waits to see a bank teller. The belt is retractable, and each post can hold the belt in multiple directions for added flexibility. It’s possible to make quite complex lines for queuing with a little thought and planning. The belt can be retracted to make cleaning and maintenance easier and to clear the area in the case of an emergency.

The tops of the posts holding the belts can be fitted with a wide variety of useful equipment. Many people may have seen these posts holding leaflets in place so that the person has some useful information to read whilst they are stationary in the queue. Signs can also be placed in these positions to remind people what they need when they reach the counter. This is a great way to speed up operations without placing people under extra stress.

If you’re interested in using expandable safety barriers on your next project, contact Image Bollards for expert help and advice.

Supply and install high quality security bollards around Australia, we supply wide range of bollards including steel bollards, removable, along with rubber wheel stops.