차와 건설작업자를 보호하는 새로운 철재 방호벽 Steel Construction Barriers Hoping to Keep Workers Safer, Replace Concrete Barriers: VIDEO

Steel Construction Barriers Hoping to Keep Workers Safer, Replace Concrete Barriers

차량이 다니는 도로에서 건설작업은 매우 위험하다.

운전 방법도 변화하고 있다.

많은 기술자들이 버지니아 공대 엔지니어에 의해 개발된 스마트 안전조끼와 자동 TMA트럭 같이 

건설현장의 근로자들에서 더 안전 작업 환경을 제공하기 위하여 노력하고 있다.

스마트 안전조끼는 물체가 예상치 못하게 빠르게 접근해오면 수초만에 경고해준다.

콜로라도의 푸에블로사는 작업자와 운전자에 안전한 새로운 기술을 시험 중에 있다.

'800포터블 철재 방호벽'

강도를 높이기 위해 웨이브를 준 철재로 제작된 방호벽이다.

현재 건설현장에 설치되고 있는 콘크리트 방호벽를 대체할 수 있을만큼 더 안전한 구조를 만들어졌다.

만일 차량이 콘크리트 방호벽에 부딪혔을 때 차와 콘크리트 모두 파괴되며 금속과 콘크리트가 하늘로 비산된다.

회사는 차가 이 철재 방호벽에 부딪혔을 경우 피해를 얼마나 줄일 수 있을지 반응을 보고 있다.

문제는 콘크리트에 비하여 4배나 비싼 제작비다.

하지만 회사는 연방규정에 의해 스틸 방호벽으로 교체될 것으로 기대하고 있다.

언제가 될지는 잘모르겠지만...

황기철  콘페이퍼 에디터

ki chul, hwang conpaper editor 

June 28, 2016 Shane Hedmond

Road construction work is dangerous.  It changes driving patterns, which is especially hazardous if drivers are impaired or distracted.  There have been several teams of researchers and manufacturers that are attempting to make road construction safer for contractors, like this autonomous TMA truck from Royal Truck & Equipment and this smart safety vest designed by engineers at Virginia Tech, which gives workers a few seconds of warning is an object is approaching too quickly.

Pueblo, Colorado is testing out a new technology that could also make drivers’ and workers’ lives safer, while also making things easier.  Steel construction barriers are making waves in Pueblo, according to local news channel KOAA, as they have demonstrated to be a safer alternative to concrete barriers, currently seen throughout the United States.  When a vehicle strikes concrete, the car and the concrete are both destroyed, sending metal and concrete through the air and a wrecked car bouncing on the road asking for other cars to hit it.  With these steel barriers, cars will bounce off of the barriers with little damage to the vehicle or the barrier, as you can see in the video below.

KOAA interviewed John Volk with Dynamic Deflections, a distributor of steel barriers in Colorado.  Volk said that not only will the steel barriers cause less damage, they are also much easier to ship and are easier to install.  One truckload of steel barriers, he says, is equal to the amount of concrete barriers that would require six truckloads.  Concrete barriers are also extremely cumbersome to move, requiring the use of heavy construction machinery.  The steel barriers are equipped with wheels, which can be ratcheted down and easily moved by only one person. 

The major drawback to the steel construction barriers is cost, which is estimated at around 4 times the cost of concrete.  Volk believes that federal regulations will soon change to require steel barriers, but there’s currently no timeline for when or if that will happen.

Take a look at the video below, by HighwayCareInt, which shows a comparison between the BarrierGuard 800 steel barrier and a traditional concrete barrier:

 

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