The Essential Guide to Using Water Barriers for Event Crowd Control

From sports and concerts to festivals and exhibitions, correct event crowd control is vital to ensuring safety. No matter whether it’s a few hundred attendees or tens of thousands, ensuring your site is using the right equipment, like water-filled barriers, will keep attendees and workers out of harm’s way.

RPM Hire provides water barriers to clients across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Hobart. In this latest article, we thought we would take a closer look at these barriers.

What is a Water Barrier?

A  water barrier is a type of temporary safety barrier designed to help create clear routes for vehicles and attendees. Made from high-quality and durable UV-stabilised polythene, these barriers are incredibly lightweight when empty. This allows them to be quickly and easily manoeuvred into place, while once filled with water, they become a strong and stable barrier.

While typically used for traffic control, they are also highly effective at crowd control, especially at events like festivals, races, and concerts. These barriers are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, offering unrivalled flexibility and reusability.

What Is The Purpose of a Water Barrier?

The primary purpose of a water barrier is to create a secure and visible boundary for a designated area. These barriers can be used to restrict access, guide the flow of attendees, and separate vehicles for pedestrian zones.

In an event setting, temporary water barriers are crucial in managing crowds and ensuring that guests remain within safe and designated areas. This helps organisers to maintain order and reduce the risks of accidents from occurring.

What Are The Benefits of Water Filled Barriers For Events?

Due to their versatility, there is a huge range of benefits to incorporating water filled barriers for your next event, including:

• Safety and Event Crowd Control

One of the biggest challenges of any event is ensuring that the crowd remains safe and orderly throughout. These highly durable solutions are able to provide clear markings for pedestrian and vehicle access. Not only this, but they are incredibly stable once filled, meaning they are difficult to knock over or move. Having a physical barrier is also a natural deterrent for attendees, discouraging them from crossing over into restricted areas.

At RPM Hire, our water barriers are TL1/TL2 MASH compliant, making them suitable for use on roads of up to 50km/h.

• Flexibility and Easy Installation
  

  Not only do they help to increase safety, but our water filled barriers are also very easy to transport and install. They are lightweight when empty, therefore setting them up or moving them to new locations is very quick and easy, especially when compared to other types of barriers. This high level of flexibility can help you save time, which is a crucial factor for event staff. Our RPM Hire barriers can be adapted to your event’s unique layout, from straight lines and curves to fully enclosed perimeters.

Water Barriers vs. Other Types of Barriers

While there are a number of benefits to using water filled barriers, there are various situations where other types of barriers might be more suitable. The right choice of temporary barrier will depend on the specific needs of your events, and we’ve taken a closer look at some other options so you can make the right choice for you.

Water Barriers vs. Concrete Barriers

Concrete barriers are commonly used for long-term projects or events that require maximum strength and immovability, such as roadworks or construction zones. At RPM Hire, we stock JJ Hook and DeltaBlock concrete jersey barriers that are compliant with Australian road standards, ensuring the highest level of protection.

However, compared to water filler barriers, concrete options are heavier and harder to manoeuvre and set up. This makes them less suited to temporary events.

Water Barriers vs. Steel Barriers

Steel barriers are another popular option when it comes to event crowd control. They are especially useful for guiding foot traffic or lining pathways, and at RPM Hire, our portable solutions are TL-3 or TL-4 and MASH TL-3 rated.

Made from galvanised steel, they are ideal for use in areas where vehicles are passing, capable of absorbing energy from impact and minimising the risk of further accidents. These heavy-duty barriers are typically heavier than a water barrier, which can reduce the speed of deployment and manoeuvrability.

How to Plan Using Water Barriers for Your Event

When it comes to water barrier hire, proper planning is essential when incorporating them into your event’s layout. The number of water barriers that you require, and their placement, will depend on the event size, location and your expected crowd numbers. For example, larger events may require multiple rows of barriers to manage crowd flow more effectively and ensure safety, whereas smaller events might only need a single line to mark boundaries.

You should also consider your entry and exit points, as well as things such as emergency access, to ensure swift entry as required. Our team at RPM Hire will be able to help you with planning your event crowd control, ensuring you have the right number of barriers installed in the right places to maximise the safety of attendees and workers.

RPM Hire – Your Trusted Provider for Temporary Water Barrier Hire!

No matter whether you are organising a sporting event, festival or exhibition, if you are looking to maximise crowd safety then RPM Hire is here to help you. Our high-quality barriers are made from long-lasting and highly durable materials, ensuring they are capable of withstanding the elements and keeping your guests and employees protected throughout the duration.

Our entire team is committed to delivering exceptional customer service. If you would like to find out more about our extensive range of products and how we can help you, get in touch today!