Collision protection SlowStop® from Impact Recovery protects people, vehicles and infrastructure

Anyone looking for an innovative traffic safety system for a warehouse building or production hall to reduce collision damage and protect infrastructure has come to the right place at Impact Recovery. Meet the patented SlowStop^®, a sustainable solution to reduce accident damage and associated costs. We headed to Aarschot to talk with Kristel Wolters, European Operations Manager, and Irina Nutten, European Sales Director.

Impact Recovery was founded in 1991 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Since then, the company has grown into a leading manufacturer and supplier of products in traffic safety, transit barriers and collision protection. While engineering activities take place in the US, the Aarschot office is the base of operations for European logistics and sales & marketing activities.

One of Impact Recovery's flagship products is SlowStop^®, a patented collision protection system originally invented by Gerard Wolters. "With his invention - initially registered under the patent name Softstop - he sought an answer to rigid, fixed protection bollards and concrete bases. After all, these cause unnecessary damage to the vehicle, the bollard and the product to be protected," Wolters said. "Thanks to dynamic collision protection, you can avoid that damage. And at the same time, you realize huge cost savings because the risk of accidents involving damage or physical injuries is reduced."

Flexible protective posts

Impact Recovery and Wolters NV already had a long-standing collaboration to bring the American company's Kickback spring-loaded bollards to the European market. Nutten: "Impact Recovery included Softstop in its range of flexible protection poles, at the same time launching a new product name: SlowStop^®. While Slow refers to its relatively low impact (compared to the impact on public roads), Stop more than lives up to its promise. Based in Aarschot, we handle production and distribution for the European and Asian markets. One of our USPs is a very fast and reliable delivery of products, precisely because we manufacture everything locally."

Suitable for cold storage

An investment in SlowStop^® pays for itself quickly, Wolters said. "Our flexible collision protection is the only protection solution on the market that truly provides calculated safety as a function of mass and speed. Expressed in joules, our products offer protection at energy levels ranging from 7,000 to as high as 106,800 joules. In addition, our steel products are excellent for "cold storage," as you can install them in temperatures down to minus 40 degrees Celsius. In such cold conditions, collision protection products made of plastic begin to crumble. With SlowStop^® So you're investing in a product with a very long lifespan."

Triple protection

Nutten explains how SlowStop^® offers triple protection: "There is the protection of the approaching driver and his vehicle: he or she experiences a 'soft landing,' reducing the risk of damage to the vehicle and injury to the driver. There is also the protection of objects and infrastructure, because SlowStop^® is mounted at a certain distance from the object and does not fully move with it. The result? The collision protection system never comes into contact with objects in a warehouse or production environment. And finally, the steel SlowStop^®-system itself is also always intact, so that it continues to absorb impact forces efficiently. Solutions in plastic weaken after each impact, and thus must be checked frequently and - if necessary - replaced."

Easy to install

The assembly of SlowStop^® - which consists of tough cast iron, steel and a rubber elastomer - proceeds very simply via concrete screw anchors. "Unlike traditional systems, anchoring with concrete screws does not use chemical bonding," Wolters confirms. "Once installed, you can easily assemble U-pieces, railings, fences and even guardrails with Impact Recovery's pipe connectors. This makes our collision protection systems multi-purpose, from warehouse to airport floors and from industrial environments to gas stations. And because we supply the entire European market from our Aarschot site - with components manufactured in Belgium, right down to the cardboard packaging - fast delivery is our trademark."

Focus on sustainability

Last but not least is the sustainability aspect with which SlowStop^® out. Says Nutten, "The cast iron and steel in our products is 100 percent recyclable. The rubber elastomer fully complies with EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation, n.v.d.r.) regulations. In this way, as a manufacturer, we contribute to the correct and legal management of forests. More and more customers are asking for this sustainable approach."