A public or commercial place gets visited by several types of crowds throughout the day. This makes it essential for the property owner to take all the required measures which will help visitors of the area to freely move without any fear of slips and falls. There are also several norms and regulations which every commercial property must follow during the construction phase. Among all of these precautionary measures, one tiny piece of equipment which every owner should consider installing are tactile indicators. Here in this blog, we help you to figure out what they are and how you can use them.

What are tactile indicators?

Tactile Indicators are products that are made from several materials and consist of several raised bars or studs. In the form of laid paving units, these tactile indicators are installed, individual mushroom-shaped studs are drilled and fixed into the grounds or adhesive taped mats to the surface of the ground. Tactile indicators are purposely targeted towards providing on tactile pathways a tactile surface and access routes where people can feel them with a symbol cane or underfoot and be completely aware of a staircase or an impending pedestrian hazard. This actually helps the people who are visually impaired and also increases the general safety precaution for every pedestrian.

What are the main uses of Tactile Indicators?

Tactile Indicators serve the purpose of offering pedestrians who are blind or are vision-impaired warning about any hazard and also direction information in order to aid navigation of the urban environment. The raised stud or bar pattern of the Tactile Indicators is aligned on the ground surface to get this and this enables blind pedestrians to feel the textural changes via their feet or with a cane. The color contrast between the Tactile Indicators and the ground surface helps pedestrians with limited vision for detecting the modules visually. These are also predominantly used for leading pedestrians to public access facilities like pedestrian crossings, intersection curb ramps, lifts, stairs, escalators, and ramps. They are also used at public transport facilities for alerting pedestrians to platforms edges at the bus, train stations and tram stoppage areas, and also ferry wharves. Adding to assisting with orientation, Tactile Indicators also help to provide dignified, safe & independent access to and within the community.

What are the differences between Warning and Directional Tactile Indicators?

Warning Tactile Indicators

Warning Tactile Indicators which are also called by the names Hazard Tactiles and Decision Tactiles. They are ideally installed in a raised grid pattern of studs or 'dots' to the surface of walking. The main function is to warn blind and vision-impaired pedestrians about any nearby hazard. Warning Indicators have the function the same as a stop sign. It alerts the vision-impaired or blind pedestrians in their line of travel, indicating that they must stop to determine the nature of the hazard before proceeding any further. But it never indicates how the hazard will be.

Directional Tactile Indicators

It is also known by the term Leading Tactiles and comprises of a series of raised bars which are installed to the surface of the walking, oriented in line with the prescribed direction of travel. it safely leads pedestrians along an intended pathway that is free of any obstacles and will often end at a place filled with Warning Tactile Indicators. In cases where other environmental and tactile cues like curb edge or property line are absent and offer insufficient guidance, directional indicators are installed. In open spaces, it offers directional orientation and designates the continuous accessible route which should be taken for avoiding hazards. It also offers a directional orientation to a person who could have deviated from the continuous accessible path for gaining access to a public transport access point, crossing point, or point of entry to a significant public facility like public information center or toilets.

Dutco Tennant LLC brings to you the most advanced range of Architectural Finishing Products tactile indicators. For any enquiries and details, please feel free to get in touch with us . We offer our service all over the Middle East and GCC region.