Get the Best out of your Traffic Wands
Traffic wands are relatively low cost safety devices that will give you many years of service if looked after properly, with 20 years experience behind us here are some traffic wand handling routines, the does and don’ts that will help you extend the life of your traffic marshalling lights.
Banksman Operator Awareness – ‘It’s Not a drumstick or Light Sabre’
Over the years we noted there’s a tendency for some operators, particularly when issued with longer light wands, to treat them a bit like drum sticks – tapping them against objects whilst waiting for the next vehicle or patting them into the palm of a hand like a police nightstick in an American movie.
The wands can withstand some enthusiastic handling but remember that there’s a long LED circuit board running up the length of the light tube. Continual impact over time can create fatigue, damage circuitry and effect light function.
As the wands are solid state if they work on day one there’s no reason for them to stop working unless damaged by external events. Put simply you can wave these around in the air for years directing traffic but start tapping them against hard objects and you may be replacing them more frequently than needed.
We have light wands in the office that are more than 15 years old which have received a fair amount of wear and tear and still function, we are therefore confident in the quality of our product which if used correctly will give you years of service too.
Wand Not Working?
In the unlikely event of a manufacturing issue we will of course provide a replacement or refund but before contacting us, first look see if the traffic wand show signs of dents and scuffs such indications are likely to explain why there’s an issue in the first place. Operator induced damage would be outside of any manufacturing warranty and typically would class as wear and tear.
We do have ruggedised wands, consider these as an alternative especially if deploying these in a ‘challenging environment’. Our rugged wands come in in a set of 3 units, these red traffic wands are robust and are also rechargeable traffic wands , more can be read about them here Rechargeable Red Traffic Wand Case Set 3
Use the Wrist Lanyard & Magnet
The wrist lanyard helps prevent accidental drops, so encourage operators to use it otherwise drops are bound to happen, light wands are robust enough to endure occasional mishap but the wrist lanyard is there for a purpose so please use it.
The magnet in the base of the traffic wand is a good way of securing the wand to metallic surfaces and help avoid the wand rolling and falling, use it where appropriate but never on moving vehicles.
Leave the belt clip in place, the belt clip can be removed from the traffic wand but it actually helps stop the wand rolling so keep in on to prevent accidental drops.
Use Quality Batteries in your Traffic Batons
Use quality alkaline batteries for better performance, they are less likely to leak in your traffic wand especially when stored during quiet periods.
If wands are not going to be used during the lighter summer months remove the batteries to avoid the risk of battery leaks and potential damage to the battery contact points
HINT: If batteries do leak, take some fine emery cloth and lightly rub the battery contacts to see if you can establish an electrical circuit again.
Use Rechargeable Batteries
Rechargeable batteries not only give you green credentials but when used with a spare set of batteries you can hot swap them over so your marshalling wand is always ready to go. Having a separate battery charger and hot swapping batteries in your traffic wand can actually be more efficient than having a rechargeable traffic wand in the first place.
Not only are your marshalling wands always available (not plugged in recharging), they cost less than rechargeable traffic wands, are less prone to damage and come end of life its easier to recycle batteries than break apart a rechargeable traffic wand and do the same.
Read more about the choice between rechargeable and non rechargeable traffic wands here where we have put down some of our thoughts for your consideration
Don’t put them in your pocket!
Putting a marshalling wand in your pocket isn’t a good idea, when you sit down that bending action can snap a wand or rip your trousers!
The vehicle marshalling/banksman marshalling wand is compact and can be fitted to PPE using the Klickfast carrying system, its the best way of keeping your kit out of harms way read more here.
Rechargeable red traffic wands
If the environment you operate in is resulting in a lot of breakages maybe consider the ruggedised version of rechargeable traffic wand we supply these in a handy case sets of 3 traffic batons.
These are based on our Police Knight Pod emergency beacon using the same materials making them extremely difficult to break read more by following this link
Banksman Operator Awareness
Signalmen and banksman operator training is available online from as little as £35 per person if you search Google but it’s also important to teach your operatives the basics in terms of how they handle equipment like our traffic batons.
Teaching them the do’s and don’ts will save needless expense, our wands will withstand the occasional mishap usually without any issue but continued mishandling of any electrical product can lead to having to replace equipment well before you should have to.