Our 5 Best Tips for A Better Barricade Rental Experience
Some organizations choose to rent barricades occasionally instead of purchasing them outright. This way, event organizers can address a number of potential crowd control issues without investing in barricades they might not use again. At OTW Safety, we commonly rent out our barricades for local events and these are our top five tips to ensure a positive barricade rental experience:
Renting vs. Buying: Determine Your Needs
The first thing an event organizer looking to rent barricades should determine is if barricade rental is actually the best route. True, rented barricades are effective for single-use purposes. However, schools, zoos, theme parks, airports, construction companies, and many other organizations, often find ways to use barricades on a regular basis for a variety of purposes. Before someone decides to rent barricades, we recommend taking a look to see if purchasing barricades outright might make more sense in the long run.
Overestimate Your Barricade Rental Order
Renting one or two superfluous barricades is not a big issue and can even give you flexible options. Renting too few barricades, however, could pose a big problem for event organizers. Not being able to restrict off-limits or hazardous areas could make it difficult to manage crowds. Not having enough barricades (or having none at all) in parking areas or traffic zones could lead to confusion, log-jams, or even contribute to auto accidents. It’s usually better to slightly overestimate the number of barricades needed to pull off an event successfully when renting — you’ll rarely regret having extra barricades, but most surely will regret not having enough! Better safe than sorry.
Prioritize Safety
Barricades are often used to promote the safety of an event and protect pedestrians. They can act to keep passersby out of restricted areas and reduce traffic confusion and congestion. Therefore, with safety in mind, it is also important that the barricades themselves be safe.
Safe barricades should boast all of the following features:
- The ability to interlock and form a stable, continuous fence
- Bright colors to attract attention
- Durability and strength to withstand bumps and wind gusts
- Attached signage space and capabilities
Barricades shouldn’t be flimsy, they shouldn’t fall over easily, and they definitely shouldn’t have sharp or jagged edges (like metal barricades can form over time). This last point is especially important for event organizers who are planning to host children, who in turn may play on or around barricades at a large event.
Choose Quality
Just because a professional is renting a barricade instead of purchasing it, doesn’t mean they have to pick a cheap, low-quality item. While the best rental barricades promote safety and allow for effective crowd management, they are also portable, durable, and made of a high-quality material. How barricades look and are arranged may also affect visitor experience at a festival or large gathering, so you want to be sure you’re providing a good experience with no quality issues.
Find a Trustworthy Barricade Rental Partner
At OTW Safety, we’ve provided barricades for construction sites, schools (from elementary through college), airports, go-kart tracks, zoos, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, and more! We design and manufacture our own barricades, and we strive to deliver quality products to all of our partners.
Currently, we offer rental services on several barricade products within the Salt Lake area. Contact us here for more information about our rental terms or to speak to one of our dedicated team members.
