You head to the bank and have to join a line. You see the persons in line being guided by a post with nylon strap connecting them. You don’t give it a second thought and join the line. You then head to the gas station and in front of the each fuel dispenser there are two thick metal posts. You leave there and are driving past the ports and lining the road on the strip of land next to sea are short thick solid metal poles. You pay it no attention as you see it quite often. Later you arrive at the factory you work and after changing into your overalls you head to the factory floor. You make certain to stay between the yellow lines on the floor and take care not to pass between the areas that is cordoned off by large thick metal pipes.
So what in this scenario seems to strike you as interesting? No, it should not be that you are late for work because you went to the bank first. Nor that you have to drive so far to get to work. What should be noticed is that in all the areas you stopped there were some kind of posts there to guide you where to go. These posts surprisingly, all have the same name. They are called bollards. Though they are all the same they all provide different functions. So which of these can be called bollards installation?
Only the one at the gas station and at your factory are there for safety. Even though one is indoor and the other outdoor they are both the same. Their purpose is to stop or protect whatever is behind them from being struck by a high impact. They may seem fairly simple and innocuous, but they do their jobs well.
Part of the reason they are able to do that job is how they are constructed. Depending on the force they are manufactured to sustain, they would be anchored to the ground either by bolts or attached to an underground concrete foundation. Sometimes these bollards would be large empty pipes, but if they are for higher impacts then they may be filled with concrete to provide strength.
Another noticeable feature of these safety structures is that they are always painted in bright colours that are visible to all. It may be painted either safety yellow or red to indicate to all or sundry to be careful. You quite likely never really paid it much attention or cared to notice. In fact, you may even have used one to have a seat, which you should be wary of doing. Yet one thing is likely, you probably didn’t know this.