Designing a bulletproof glass barrier system for a utility company means striking a delicate balance.
The office needs to be accessible to every visitor, including those who face challenges with mobility, speech, hearing, or communication.
At the same time, employees standing behind the counter need protection against threats that have grown increasingly common, especially as tensions rise due to billing disputes, disconnections and/or outages.
States that have experienced major power disruptions as a result of severe weather are particularly susceptible. For instance, in South Carolina, employees are lobbying for additional legal protection from disgruntled customers, asking the state to increase punishments for threats made during emergencies.
To implement the right ballistic protection in a cost-effective manner, it’s important to start by understanding the threats you’re likely to face.
Here’s how to approach planning your project, starting with a physical security risk assessment.
While some utilities have encountered vandalism at substations, the majority of the risks occur in customer-facing areas, such as payment counters or drive-thru windows.
Your building’s threat profile may also be dependent on location and crime in the surrounding area. Even if there isn’t a history of crime nearby, your company could be seen as a “soft target” because of its distance from law enforcement and a perception that it’s unprotected.
Critical infrastructure could also become a target for an attacker intent on causing widespread outages or impacting the public in other ways.
Consider key areas that will likely need bulletproofing, including:
Once you’ve documented these needs, plan upgrades with your architect and design team.
Every utility is different, but there are several ways to strengthen vulnerable areas. These may include:
Guard booths offer effective protection for perimeters, keeping out unauthorized individuals, especially in restricted areas where employees are required to sign in.
An attacker intent on harming people may start by shooting through main doors to do as much damage as possible. Bullet-resistant doors can slow or deter them, especially if they plan to break through a back door or side door that isn’t normally accessible.
We design custom doors with ballistic glazing tested to UL 752 standards to offer varying levels of protection, depending on your identified threats. In some cases, utilities may want doors to be reinforced with materials tested to the common standards for forced entry resistance as well, including ASTM F3561.
Assuming an attacker enters the building, windows protected by ballistic glazing are typically your next line of defense when it comes to protecting employees. We can design transaction windows with different speak-thru systems depending on your goals and desired level of protection. Sliding transaction windows, for instance, offer a moderate level of protection, while baffle windows and exterior windows with speakers offer greater protection.
Bulletproof fiberglass is a smart way to protect countertops. These are typically made of wood or plastic laminate and reinforced with ballistic material that disperses energy when struck by a bullet.
The Gallatin (Tenn.) Department of Electricity decided to update their security barrier following several incidents where angry customers made threats. None of these were armed altercations, but they left employees feeling uneasy.
General Manager Mark Kimball worked with the TSS team to implement a ballistic barrier system that would offer physical protection and "psychological armor," giving employees an increased sense of safety.
With these new barriers, Gallatin also needed to address several issues, including upgrading the security level and improving communication through the barrier.
This included creating a unique, fully enclosed barrier with an acrylic top to prevent any attempts to harm employees by throwing items.
Our team installed the system after hours to minimize disruption.
TSS also installed a new bulletproof glass barrier for the Energy Cooperative of Zanesville, Ohio. VP of Operations Dan McVey said their low countertops made it too easy for people to potentially reach across the counter.
Our team elevated the service counter and installed bulletproof glass, better protecting protect employees without compromising the customer experience. We used a custom large-format hole and backer system so sound could be more easily transmitted.
With these new barriers, Gallatin needed to address several issues, including upgrading the security level and improving communication through the barrier.
"The old system was to have a hole that you always had to lean into and talk," Kimbell explains. "It was difficult. Sometimes it's hard to hear. But the baffle system [TSS designed] works really well. … They came and did all the measuring and approached each problem that we had. We had several different little things that took a little studying on to solve." These included creating a unique, fully enclosed barrier with an acrylic top to prevent any attempts to harm workers by throwing items.
Most importantly, all of this was done with minimal disruption to operations. "The installation was really nice because they did it after-hours when nobody was here. It didn't interrupt our office hours. It was just a really smooth process. The biggest surprise for us was it modernized the look of the front of the building. Ours is a 1960s-style building [and] … it never had a really modern look to it. Now it does. It looks a lot more up-to-date than it ever did before.”
TSS also installed a new bulletproof glass barrier for the Energy Cooperative of Zanesville, Ohio. VP of Operations Dan McVey said their low countertops made it too easy for people to potentially reach across the counter.
Our team elevated the service counter and installed bulletproof glass, better protecting protect employees without compromising the customer experience. We used a custom large-format hole and backer system so sound could be more easily transmitted.
TSS developed this custom large-format hole-and-backer solution for the Energy Cooperative.
Since 2004, TSS has designed, engineered, fabricated, and installed tens of thousands of ballistic systems across the country. As the only nationwide custom bulletproof barrier manufacturer and installer, TSS offers bulletproof systems to fit your unique space.
Download our planning checklist or schedule a consultation to talk about your specific needs.