Types of water filled barriers: which is best to hire for your site?

Our customers often find that their projects don’t justify the cost or logistics of hiring crash rated concrete barriers, but they still require safety barriers within their worksite. They need barriers to create parking zones for contractors, cordon off no-go zones and surround small hazards or exclusion areas like existing light poles for example.

The ideal choice in this situation is to use water-filled barriers which provide safety and protection on the worksite, are easier to install than concrete barriers, and can be shifted around the site relatively easily as circumstances change.

Why choose water filled barrier hire for your civil construction projects?

Water filled barriers are a cost-effective solution to ensure safety on site. They are ideal for directing and controlling pedestrian and vehicle traffic on and around work sites.

Although they are not rated for the same type of speeds and impacts as concrete barriers, often water filled barriers are completely fine for low speed areas, pedestrian or site use, or other applications where a concrete barrier would be over-engineered for the job.

Water filled barrier advantages

• Lightweight and easy to move when empty
• Provide strong and reliable protection when full of water
• Cost-effective especially for long term hire
• Easier to transport and move around site than concrete jersey barriers
• Highly visible red or orange plastic makes them easy to see on site

One of the key advantages of water filled barriers is that they are very light and easy to move and reposition on site as the project progresses.

The average water filled barrier only weighs around 40kg empty making them extremely easy to get off a truck and install on site without the use of a crane or the need for specialist barrier lifting attachments.

Once in place and filled with water, the plastic barriers can weigh up to 500kg depending on the model.

Crash rated or non-crash rated options

Some barriers are designed to handle impacts from cars travelling at speeds. The Armorzone and Lo-Ro barriers for example are rated to be used for roadwork and in traffic applications.

Although some waterfilled barriers are not crash rated, they’re still great for providing low impact worksite protection or being used as more of a visual barrier to control pedestrian traffic.

Crash rated barriers on the other hand can be used alongside traffic, however, you should always double check with your local traffic authority to see which barriers are approved for use in your area.

Types of water filled barriers

Non-crash rated

Water Filled Delineator Barrier

• Weighs 50kg empty, 630kg full
• Max 20km/hr zones – suitable for car parks & pedestrian delineation

Plastic Delineator

• Weight: 50kg (empty) 630kg (full)
• Suitable for low speed zones

Crash rated

Lo-Ro Water Filled Barrier

• Weighs 72kg empty, 726kg when full
• MASH rating of TL-1 and TL-2
• Rated Speed: 70kph

Water wall crash barrier

• MASH 1-11, complies to TL-1
• Rated Speed: 40km/h
• Weighs 41kgs empty, 500kgs full

Armorzone Water Filled Barrier

• Weighs 50kgs empty
• Capacity: 560 litres of water
• NCHRP 350 Test Level 2 – TL-2
• Rated Speed: 50kph

Get a quote on water filled barrier hire

For more information about our complete range of shoring services and equipment, visit your nearest branch, email [email protected], or call our friendly team of experts at 1800 UR HIRE.