What is crowd control equipment? What do you call those portable units that keep us in a single file line wherever we go?

For over 20 years the industry and its customers have struggled to rest on a single descriptive name.

If we take a look at the descriptions of the three early pioneers in this industry we find; on the east coast - Pedestrian Traffic Guidance, in the mountain region - Crowd Control, and on the west coast - Public Guidance. But it did not stop there, we had customer guidance, queue barrier systems, queue management…obviously the list goes on with various combinations of these names. Guess who is trying to enter into the industry standards classification business, well the U.N. of course, they have a category called crowd control equipment. This fact, coupled with a survey of internet keywords suggests that crowd control will be the industry standard descriptive name.

Within portable crowd control equipment there are two basic types: post and rope and retractable belt. The first is easy to deal with, whether called traditional/classic post/stanchion/pole and rope it boils down to post and rope. The fun comes to play when we try to see what the public call the retractable belt stanchions. Number one response is ‘I dunno’. Many at least glance at the post and use one of the registered trademarks like TennsaBarrier, Beltway, Beltrac, etc.. Many will try to describe them by their moving component; belt / ribbon / tape / strap, like seat belt dohickey. Or they may even add the words post / stand / pole / stanchion. How about the more unusal responses line maker, lane dividers, crowd barriers or people chutes.

Now you at least know what crowd control equipment is and even that there are two styles: traditional post and rope, and retractable belt stanchions.

Whether you are getting a crowd control rope and post system or a retractable belt stanchion, you will next have to decide on the finish that you want.

The tubing used in the construction of crowd control posts generally consists of one of four types of base metals. The tubing is either aluminum, mild steel, stainless steel or brass, each have different characteristics. These characteristics are therefore important to understand, so you can make a good buying decision. All four metals can be finished in similar ways, the most common are polished, satin, or coated.

So some of the questions you must ask yourself: Are your crowd control products going to be subject to moisture or abuse? How often do you wish to clean them? What kind of look are you trying to accomplish? How long do you expect them to last?

Let’s take a glance at each type of metal. Aluminum does not rust, is relatively inexpensive, and can be finished in many attractive ways. Since aluminum is a fairly soft metal, remember how little boys love to display their toughness by crushing pop cans. Obviously, crowd control equipment is made with a much larger wall thickness than a pop can, but the point is aluminum is still subject to damage. Aluminum will still oxidize and no one wants that lady in the white skirt to have her skirt get black marks on it if she is too close to the stanchion post.

The next is mild steel, which is inexpensive and abrasion resistant. I am sure you remember from science class that steel will rust (oxidize) very easily, therefore it should be painted or better yet powder coated or plated. Depending on your environment even powder coating and plating can eventually allow the steel to rust through a small defect or scratch.

Stainless steel is strong and does not rust and can be finished in polished or satin (brushed). Stainless steel is an alternative to chrome, as the chrome plating process has come under fire for its health risks and environmental impact. Every type of metal has some oxidation over time, but when you look at how long a stainless steel counter or sink last you can surmise that it makes a great metal for crowd control systems. The largest drawback is expense.

The last metal we will look at is brass. Brass is stately attractive and does not rust. By far the most expensive of the above options. Brass does oxidize very quickly so if your desire is for the shiny look it must be polished often or have a protective powder coat applied.

For a short discussion on finish choices of crowd control equipment. Paint and anodization, the wearability is not great. Powder coating and chrome or brass plating are much better but not suitable for all environments. Polished stainless or brass have a high luster. Satin finish can soften the look and will hide the dreaded fingerprints that are visible on a shiny surface.

If your crowd control devices are not going to be subject to abuse, moisture and price is a huge consideration then powder coat over mild steel would be your choice (note, a gloss finish will show fingerprints so will require being wiped down). Remember your crowd control equipment is one of the first impressions your clientèle have of your facility, so if appearance is important and price is not, then consider brass. For longevity, appearance and moisture, stainless steel may be your best choice.

Just wanted to point out, here is a great opportunity for you to save some money. Well it may not be cheep crowd control stanchions, but the best for less. Thanks to BSI-Crowd Control. Go here for your discount crowd control.

Being a home school parent, I might as well chime in. I am sure by now you have heard that Subway decided to have a promotional program. The current competition, called “Every Sandwich Tells a Story Contest,” offers prizes and a chance to be published on the Subway website and in Scholastic’s “Parent & Child” magazine.

In a day where we are to be inclusive, - shall I digress to a discussion of my state of Colorado probably legislating that as a business owner, I must allow men and women into the same bathrooms and locker rooms, no let’s stay on subject – why would Subway exclude a segment of society, homeschooled students?

Since the story broke Subway has fixed the spelling errors on the contest site which originally was very exclusive as the only persons eligible were “..those legal resident of the Untied (sic) States..” and offered the grand prize winner a “Scholastic Gift Bastket (sic) for your home.” And they have now issued an apology and promise to be more inclusive next time.

“No home schools will be accepted.”, so lets clear the intent up with this apology of the Subway spokesman Jeremie Roche as he says, “We sincerely apologize to anyone who feels excluded by our current essay contest. Our intention was to provide an opportunity for traditional schools many of which we know have trouble affording athletic equipment, to win equipment. Our intent was certainly not to exclude homeschool children from the opportunity to win prizes and benefit from better access to fitness equipment.”

You can now get your own apology if you contacted the company to complain.

As for my family we will not boycott Subway, as they would not notice, because it has been years since we have eaten at a Subway. The brunt of a boycott is felt by the individual franchisee more than corporate and the franchise owner did not get to have a say about the contest rules anyway. Oh then there are the selfish reasons, some of the renegade franchisees still buy crowd control products outside of their corporate offerings to save over 20%, as corporate must have marked the crowd control equipment to the franchise owners by more than 100% over their cost.

In many facilities, you should know the materials used to build crowd control ropes meet fire code requirements. Just as there are many crowd control manufacturers there are many materials used.

First for the stuffing, there are generally two types used; either a foam core or a cotton cording. You do not need to be much of a scientist to know the foam will produce much higher levels of toxicity when burning. So our recommendation would be to select cotton cording for the stuffing medium.

The portion that is visible is the covering and any fabric material can be used. the most common are Naugahyde, velour, tweed, or velvet (these are purposely listed from most synthetic to least). Therefore if toxicity from fire is a concern, your best choice would be velvet covering cotton cording. Here is a link if you are searching for a supplier of velvet rope