Columns—though they can be an important decorative and functional architectural aspect, they also can create major safety hazards in a school space. Crashing into a solid stone or concrete pillar with sharp edges can indeed result in something a little more serious than a trip to the nurse’s office. But how can your school keep its students safe, though, if it can do nothing to move these structures out of potentially active spaces?

SportsGraphics is here to help. As preferred Clarion vendors of high school wall mats and more, we’re pros at school safety, school branding, and beyond. Below, we’ll discuss just a few simple changes you can make to a column-filled space to create a safer student environment.

Use Column Padding

It’s the number-one, no-brainer solution: pads that wrap around your columns. Functioning similar to a gym wall pad but with the additional benefit of nullifying sharp pillar edges, they’re a low-cost, practically maintenance free way to make everything from cafeterias to gymnasiums safer.

Worried about appearance and school branding? Don’t be. SportsGraphics has experience in rebranding schools, and we understand the importance of the concept. We even wrote a blog about it! Our pole padding wraps come pre-made to fit in with any school brand, serving as tasteful accents for larger, flashier fare.

Give Students Time to Get to Class

In many school spaces that feature columns, some sort of time crunch comes into play—kids need to change after gym, for example, or hustle across the school from the cafeteria to get to their post-lunch class. The resulting pressure and consequences for tardiness can result in a mad rush to get moving, which isn’t the best when there are sharp columns and large crowds about.

If you’ve historically had problems with students running in column-heavy spaces, consider if they need a few more minutes to get where they’re going. You may have an easier time with crowd control.

Give Alternative Routes

If worse comes to worst and you can’t stop the running, consider making all entrance points to the space prohibited. Though you may not have stopped the speed problem, you’ll at least have moved it to another location wherein it may become easier to control and result in fewer safety problems. It’s not a permanent fix, but it’s a start.

Keep Your Students Safe With SportsGraphics

No matter what you need pads for, we’ve got everything you need—from stage padding to ulta mats. Reach our Clarion office today at 1-800-257-6405.