Industrial safety barriers have been proven to keep people safe and prevent workplace accidents, but only recently there has been a formal 3rd-party testing standard for them! Without crucial, objective testing, it is difficult for potential buyers to compare various safety product options and ensure that a barrier works just as intended — to save people's lives.
Due to this gap, the Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA) worked in coordination with other industry authorities to write the first standardized test method for industrial guardrail barriers and post systems. Published last year, ANSI MH31.2 determines strength ratings by a safety barrier's weakest point and ensures this objective 3rd-party standard for safety barriers.
ANSI MH31.2 was written in partnership between ProGMA, industry-leaders, and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), a leader in third-party testing.
Before ANSI MH31.2-2021, there was no official safety standard for the use of evaluating the performance of industrial guardrail barriers and posts. ANSI MH31.2 outlines a test method that provides a variety of selection options for both gross vehicle weight and impact speed which are predetermined prior to testing. A surrogate test vehicle, designed to simulate a powered industrial truck of similar weight, is then driven to the chosen speed just prior to impact.
On the date of approval of this standard, ProGMA consisted of the following member companies:
In order to confirm objectivity, ANSI MH31.2 requires an accredited third-party testing lab to certify the results — particularly an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing facility. The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission, aka "ISO/IEC," enables laboratories to demonstrate that they operate competently and generate valid results, thereby promoting confidence in their work both nationally and around the world.
What that also means is an accredited third-party, like Texas A&M Transportation Institute TTI, must install a product and perform its test using their own equipment.
Importantly, this is different from third-party witnessing, which occurs when a flexible guardrail provider invites an accredited third-party to witness a test that the company is executing. Rather than merely witnessing a test, third-party testing certifies a safety barrier's impact rating because it is performed and tested by them. With MH31.2, it is the first and only North American standard for guardrail impact testing.