Targeted Impact Protection for Access Points, Loading Areas and Critical Infrastructure
Brandsafe supported AMFRESH Freshly Squeezed with a targeted impact protection package as part of a refurbishment project at its Skelmersdale facility.
The installation addressed several different risk points across the site. These included internal doorways, shutter openings, loading areas and vulnerable infrastructure.
Rather than applying one protection system throughout, Brandsafe selected different products for the risks found at each location.
The completed project included Door Protection Goalpost Systems, PAS 13-tested ImpactSAFE Bollards and PAS 13-tested Single Bumper Barriers.
Together, these systems provide a coordinated approach to impact protection across a busy food manufacturing environment.
Project Overview
AMFRESH Freshly Squeezed operates from a purpose-built facility in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. The site squeezes and bottles fresh fruit juice for selected UK supermarkets as part of AMFRESH’s UK operations.
The operation is based at Whitemoss Business Park in Skelmersdale. Companies House records AM Freshly Squeezed Limited at the same location and classifies its principal activity as the manufacture of fruit and vegetable juice.
Food manufacturing facilities depend on the regular movement of ingredients, packaging, finished products and equipment. This can bring forklifts and other material handling equipment into close proximity with doors, loading areas and important building infrastructure.
As part of the refurbishment project, Brandsafe was asked to provide physical protection at several of these vulnerable points.
The solution needed to work with the existing facility rather than unnecessarily changing the way the site operated. This meant selecting protection according to the movement, available space and infrastructure at each location.
Project Details
End client: AMFRESH Freshly Squeezed
Location: Skelmersdale, Lancashire
Sector: Food and drink manufacturing
Project type: Facility refurbishment and impact protection upgrade
Service: Supply and installation
Products installed: Door Protection Goalpost Systems, PAS 13-tested ImpactSAFE Bollards and PAS 13-tested Single Bumper Barriers
Understanding the Risks Across the Facility
A food manufacturing site can contain several different types of workplace transport risk within a relatively small area.
Internal doors and shutter openings allow MHE to move between operational zones. However, the edges and overhead sections of these openings can be vulnerable to contact if equipment approaches at the wrong angle or with insufficient clearance.
Entrances, exits and service points create another consideration. These areas often contain infrastructure that needs to remain accessible while also being protected from nearby vehicle movements.
Loading areas introduce a different challenge again. Vehicle and equipment movements can become concentrated around particular routes, requiring clear boundaries between the areas used for movement and the infrastructure alongside them.
These are recognised issues within the wider food and drink manufacturing sector. HSE workplace transport guidance for the industry specifically highlights the importance of separating pedestrians and vehicles, planning safe traffic routes and managing locations where vehicles enter and leave buildings.
The Brandsafe approach was therefore based around selecting the right protection for each individual risk point.
Protecting Doorways with Goalpost Systems
Doorways are natural points of movement within manufacturing facilities.
Forklifts, pallet trucks and other MHE may pass through them throughout the working day. However, the opening itself can contain several vulnerable points. Door frames, shutter mechanisms, wall edges and overhead structures may all be exposed to accidental contact.
Brandsafe installed Door Protection Goalpost Systems around selected internal doors and shutter openings.
The goalpost creates a physical protective frame around the opening. Uprights protect the sides, while the crossbar provides protection across the upper section.
This means the protection addresses both horizontal and vertical contact risks rather than relying on bollards at floor level alone.
Brandsafe’s Door Protection Goalpost System is made to order so it can be configured around the dimensions of the individual opening. The current system uses ImpactSAFE Bollard base units with impact-absorbing buffers, alongside 89 mm uprights and crossbars.
This made it particularly suitable for the refurbishment project. Protection could be designed around existing access points instead of requiring the doorway itself to be significantly altered.
The highly visible finish also provides MHE operators with a clear reference as they approach and pass through the opening.
Protecting Critical Areas with ImpactSAFE Bollards
Not every vulnerable location requires a complete barrier run.
Some areas need more targeted protection.
Brandsafe installed PAS 13-tested ImpactSAFE Bollards around entrances, exits, fire escape routes, fire extinguisher points and other vulnerable infrastructure across the facility.
Their positioning provides a physical boundary between MHE movement and the infrastructure behind them. At the same time, the layout can retain the access required for people to use doors, emergency routes and equipment.
This is particularly important around fire safety infrastructure. Protection should help reduce the risk of vehicle contact without creating an unnecessary obstruction to equipment or escape routes.
The ImpactSAFE Heavy Duty Bollard combines a mild steel core with integrated shock-absorbing rubber buffers. These are designed to absorb impact energy and reduce the force transferred through the baseplate, anchors and surrounding floor.
The bollard has also been tested by IWS Group to PAS 13 standards using a weighted pendulum testing rig.
At a 90° impact angle, the ImpactSAFE Bollard absorbed 6,100J of energy with a measured deflection of 200 mm. This is equivalent to the calculated impact energy of a 3,500 kg forklift travelling at approximately 4.2 mph. Testing used M12 Safety Plus Anchors.
The polymer cover kits also provide a highly visible finish. Because the covers are removable, they can be replaced independently if they become worn or damaged without replacing the steel bollard beneath.
For AMFRESH, this combination provided targeted protection at locations where a full barrier system would not necessarily have been appropriate.
Creating a Protected Loading Bay Channel
The loading area required a different approach.
Here, the challenge was not simply protecting an isolated doorway or piece of equipment. The installation needed to create a clearly defined channel through a wider operational area.
Brandsafe installed PAS 13-tested Single Bumper Barriers to create this protected route.
The low-level design makes the system particularly useful where protection is required in the path of MHE without unnecessarily creating a full-height visual obstruction.
At 370 mm high, the barrier sits within the contact zone of forklift tines, pallet trucks and lower parts of workplace vehicles. Its flexible HDPE construction is designed to deflect under impact and reform afterwards.
This allowed the barrier run to create a clear physical boundary through the loading area.
Rather than relying on floor markings alone, the system provides a physical line between the vehicle movement area and the infrastructure beyond it.
The yellow and grey finish also helps make the route easier to identify throughout normal operations.
PAS 13-Tested Low-Level Protection
The Single Bumper Barrier has been tested by IWS Group to PAS 13 standards using a weighted pendulum testing rig.
At a 90° impact angle, the barrier absorbed 11,000J of energy. At a 45° impact angle, testing recorded 22,000J.
The 90° result is equivalent to the calculated impact energy of a 3,500 kg forklift travelling at approximately 5.7 mph. The tested deflection was 234 mm and the testing used M12 Safety Plus Anchors.
This performance data provides a documented basis for selecting the system at known low-level impact risk points.
However, tested performance is only one part of a successful installation.
The barrier still needs to be positioned according to the direction of vehicle movement, the available deflection space and what needs to remain protected behind it.
At the AMFRESH facility, the barrier was used specifically to create a protected loading bay channel rather than being applied throughout the wider site.
Selecting Different Protection for Different Risks
One of the clearest features of the project is that no single product was expected to solve every problem.
Each system performs a different role.
Goalpost Systems protect the sides and upper sections of vulnerable door and shutter openings.
ImpactSAFE Bollards provide targeted protection around individual access points, fire safety infrastructure and exposed assets.
Single Bumper Barriers create longer low-level protection runs where MHE movement needs a clear physical boundary.
Together, they create a more complete impact protection strategy.
This approach also helps avoid unnecessary protection. Installing a larger barrier simply because it provides a higher level of protection is not always the best solution. It may take up valuable space, restrict visibility or interfere with normal access.
Instead, the layout should respond to how the location is actually used.
Brandsafe’s wider specification approach follows the same principle. Product selection considers the intended application, environment and risk profile rather than applying one standard solution to every area.
Supporting a Live Refurbishment Project
The installation formed part of a wider refurbishment at an operational food manufacturing facility.
This meant the Brandsafe team needed to work within existing access points, routes and site infrastructure.
From the initial enquiry and product recommendations through to planning, operations and installation, the different stages of the project were coordinated across the team.
The layout also required several different protection systems. Each needed to work independently while contributing to a consistent overall installation.
The completed project demonstrates how impact protection can be incorporated into an existing facility without treating every risk point in the same way.
It also shows the value of considering protection during refurbishment works. Existing traffic routes, vulnerable structures and operational issues can be reviewed while changes are already being made to the facility.
Why Impact Protection Matters in Food Manufacturing
Food and drink manufacturing presents its own workplace transport considerations.
Raw materials arrive. Products move through production. Packaging and finished goods need to be stored and dispatched. Meanwhile, forklifts and other MHE may operate around people, machinery and building infrastructure.
HSE specifically identifies workplace transport as a priority area for the food and drink industry.Its guidance asks whether vehicles and pedestrians are separated where possible, whether separate building entrances are provided and whether barriers are required around vehicle routes.
HSE’s food industry case studies also demonstrate why doorways deserve particular attention. Published examples include an employee being struck by forklift forks as a truck emerged through a doorway, as well as a reach truck striking a door lintel. These are general industry examples and are not connected with AMFRESH.
Physical protection cannot replace training, traffic management or safe operating procedures.
However, correctly selected barriers, bollards and doorway protection can support those wider controls. They provide an additional physical measure at locations where contact is foreseeable.
Project Outcomes
The completed impact protection package helped AMFRESH:
- Protect vulnerable internal doors and shutter openings from MHE contact
- Provide overhead and side protection around selected access points
- Protect entrances, exits and important infrastructure
- Provide targeted protection around fire escape and fire equipment locations while maintaining required access
- Create a physically protected loading bay channel
- Introduce PAS 13-tested protection at selected higher-risk impact points
- Improve the visibility of vulnerable areas and protection boundaries
- Integrate different protection systems within an existing manufacturing facility
- Support the wider refurbishment without unnecessarily changing established operational routes
The finished installation brings these individual measures together as one coordinated protection package.
A Practical Approach to Food Manufacturing Protection
This project demonstrates why impact protection should be considered around the risk, rather than around the product.
A doorway does not necessarily need the same protection as a loading area. A fire extinguisher point does not require the same solution as a shutter opening. Likewise, a long operational route may require a barrier where an individual corner only requires a bollard.
Understanding those differences allows a more practical layout to be developed.
At AMFRESH Skelmersdale, Goalpost Systems address vulnerable openings. ImpactSAFE Bollards protect selected individual risk points. Single Bumper Barriers provide a defined physical boundary through the loading area.
Different products. Different roles. One coordinated approach.
Work with Brandsafe
Brandsafe provides complete impact protection solutions and services for food manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and industrial environments.
From site surveys and specification support to supply and installation, our team can help identify vulnerable areas and develop a coordinated protection package around the way your facility operates.
Whether you are planning a refurbishment, upgrading an existing site or reviewing protection around vehicle and MHE routes, speak to Brandsafe about a solution designed around your requirements.
Protect people, buildings, equipment and critical infrastructure with a complete Brandsafe impact protection solution.
