As a hotel, facilities or resort manager, you may be asking yourself, “How come the crowd control stanchions are so beat up?” The answer may surprise you but the number 1 cause of damage to crowd control stanchions is lack of employee training. It is true that most damage occurs from handling and loading and unloading the stanchions into to the tall carts but if the employees were trained to properly handle, load and unload the stanchion, they would look much better and last a lot longer.
MAIN CAUSES OF STANCHION DAMAGE
- Employee Training (Lack of) – Teach your employees how to handle and properly load, unload, transport and setup your stanchions. When the employee pulls a retractable stanchion out of a tall cart without first tipping it, they catch the receivers or part of the cap damaging the cassette assembly.
- Employee Handling – Even trained employees can unintentionally or intentionally get a bit aggressive and beat up the stanchions.
- Feet – Customers standing in line tend to step on bases. Stanchions with metal base covers suffer the consequences.
- Frequent Handling – If your stanchions are setup and moved around frequently, they are sure to fail quicker than others not handled or used as much.
- Cheap Stanchions – Less expensive stanchions normally have one bolt attached to the post through a concrete filled base. Though the price is right at first, these cheap stanchions need replaced much sooner than a quality stanchion with a stronger, more durable build. Frequent handling of cheap stanchions causes the nut to come loose and the post to lean. The concreate in the base will also eventually breakdown and turn to sand or powder no longer offering support and making a mess on your floor.
- Aggressive Guests – Nightclubs see this one the most. From impatient guests waiting in line to the couple of guys that had a few too many. It’s often the stanchions that take the abuse.
- Improper Storage – by either using the wrong type of stanchion cart or no cart at all and stack the stanchions on top of each other, this leads to scratched up posts and beat up bases
- Over Extending the Belts – Either employees trying to get 10.5′ out of a 10ft belt or a customer standing in line pulling, when a belt hits its limit and then some, the springs and mechanism inside the belt cassette assembly can only take so much abuse.
- Location – Are you using indoor stanchions outside? Normally this isn’t too much of an issue but chlorine in pool areas can do some major damage, salt water and salty air can take its tool and so can direct intense sunlight in locations such as Las Vegas and Phoenix.
- Old Age – Crowd control stanchions, especially retractable belt style, have a shelf life. The life you get out of your stanchions are like a car, treat a stanchions well, handle it gently and it will continue to perform for many years.
Stanchion Masters® highly recommends flatbed style stanchion carts. If you have a bit more storage space, they are more ergonomically friendly for your employees. Easier to load and unload, less pain for the employees, less damage to the stanchions.
In conclusion, it is important for hotel, facilities, and resort managers to prioritize employee training in order to prevent damage to crowd control stanchions. By teaching employees proper handling techniques, using quality stanchions, and being mindful of environmental factors, managers can extend the lifespan of their crowd control equipment and maintain a professional appearance for their establishment. Regular maintenance and replacing old stanchions when necessary will also help to ensure that crowd control operations run smoothly and efficiently.