Safety bollards in a warehouse take the hit so your racking, doors and people do not. A forklift clipping a rack upright can bring down a bay of pallets; one reversing into a roller door frame stops the dock for a day. Steel posts, usually yellow and often concrete filled, or flexible polymer posts and barriers, guard the points where machines and people meet. Tell us the floor, the forklifts and what needs protecting, and we pass your request to independent suppliers and installers of industrial safety bollards in your area, who quote you directly.
Where the posts go
- Rack ends and uprights at aisle corners
- Roller door frames and dock levellers
- Building columns in forklift lanes
- Pedestrian walkways, office doors and fire exits
- Battery charging bays, machines, electrical panels and gas lines
Walk the floor with your forklift team and look at where the paint is scraped and the steel bent: that is where the next hit will be.
Steel or flexible polymer
Steel bollards, often 114 mm or 168 mm pipe filled with concrete and painted yellow with reflective bands, are strong and cheap, but a hard hit passes the force into the floor, which can crack the slab or bend the post at its base. Flexible polymer posts and barriers absorb part of the impact and return to shape, so the floor and the forklift suffer less, though they cost more. Many sites use steel at doors and columns and polymer barriers along walkways. Plain plastic bollards mark lanes but do not protect anything.
Fixing to the floor
Indoor posts are core drilled into the slab and grouted, or bolted down on a base plate with anchors. Before any drilling, check the slab thickness, whether it is post-tensioned, and where underfloor cables, drains and heating run. A base plate on a thin slab will pull out under a laden forklift. Our bollard installation page explains core drilling into existing concrete. Ask the installer to vacuum the slurry and dust as they go, since it gets onto stock and into the racking.
Colour, visibility and upkeep
Yellow with black or reflective bands is the common choice indoors because it stands out under high bay lights. Keep posts at a height drivers can see over the forks, and match them with painted walkway lines. After a hit, check the post, its base and the slab around it; a loose post is worse than none. Bent or cracked posts are a job for bollard repairs. A short monthly walk with a checklist catches loose bases before the next hit finds them.
What to put in your request
- What needs protecting and how many points
- The forklift types and how busy the aisles are
- Floor slab thickness and any underfloor services
- Steel posts, flexible polymer or a mix
- When work can be done without stopping operations
Warehouse Safety Bollards for homes, businesses and public spaces
- Homeowners: a garage or workshop post protecting a water heater or panel from the car
- Estates, complexes and body corporates: posts around a complex's refuse area, pump room or electrical kiosk
- Shops, malls and petrol stations: back-of-house stores and receiving docks where pallet jacks work
- Offices, hotels and car parks: basement plant rooms and loading bays in office buildings
- Warehouses, factories and depots: warehouses, factories and depots with forklifts near racking and walkways
- Municipalities and public spaces: workshops, depots and stores with vehicles moving near staff
- Schools, hospitals and campuses: hospital stores, kitchens and campus depots with powered pallet trucks
- Contractors and event organisers: safety posts fitted during a warehouse fit-out or racking install
Frequently asked questions
How big should warehouse safety bollards be?
Can bollards be installed while the warehouse is working?
Will a steel bollard damage my floor when it is hit?
Do you install the safety bollards in our warehouse?
Warehouse Safety Bollards by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg