What Should You Look for In a High Security Palisade Fencing Specification?

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There's a growing demand for higher security fence systems around the world. Even in places that have never used high security palisade fencing in the past, it's being specified and installed more and more often.

However, if you're not familiar with high security palisade fencing, you might not be able to tell the difference between the various specifications you see. So here are a few things you can look for to tell if you're looking at high security palisade fencing, or something else.

Heavy Duty Posts

Some palisade fence specifications use square posts and bracket systems. While they get the job done, they're often not suitable for high security palisade fencing.

Always look at the wall thickness of the steel that is specified for your fence posts, and be wary of any systems that use front mounted or bracket based fixing systems. These are a lot easier to tamper with, and sometimes all it takes is a crowbar.

Many true high security palisade fencing systems use I beam or IPE posts with a special fitting called a "fishplate" which passes through the web of the beam. This makes them harder to access, and since they're usually made from 6mm or 1/4 inch steel, very hard to cut.

Relatively Close Post Spacing

Another good way to tell if you're looking at a high security palisade fencing specification is that the posts are spaced fairly close together. This is usually between 2.4m and 3m apart, and anything more than that is probably not a high security palisade fencing system.

There are several reasons for this.

First, it makes accessing the site very difficult by vehicle, especially if the posts are planted in heavy duty concrete footings.

Secondly, high security palisade fence systems are made of thick, heavy steel. So the posts might need to be spaced closer together to allow them to carry that weight.

Heavy Duty Horizontals

There are some fence systems out there that claim to be heavy duty palisade, but that use thinner, lighter weight steel for the horizontal components of the palisade fence panels.

The problem with this is that they often have to use more than two rails to construct a panel, and the more horizontal rails you have on a fence, the more you're building a ladder instead of a barrier.

Good, high quality high security palisade fence systems use heavy duty angle iron or channels, and they are usually around 5 or 6mm thick, so they are very strong.

High Security Palisade Pales

Palisade pales are the vertical members that are installed on the rails, that make up most of the "body" of the fence panel.

There are several kinds of palisade pales, but the most common are D sections, W sections and angle iron pales.

When you are building a high security palisade fence, you usually want to use a W section with a bolt that fits into the indentation of the "W", or use D section or angle pales and weld them to the horizontal rails. Of course, welded panels can't be raked or tilted to follow slopes, so if you opt for welded panels, you will probably need to survey the fence line to manufacture panels to the right gradient for each section.

High security palisade pales are usually at least 3mm or 1/8" thick, and if the are W or D section, they are roll formed from steel coil.

High Security Palisade Fence Bolts

The last thing we need to discuss about high security palisade fencing is the bolts you use to construct the panels.

Bolts are always a weak point, so it's always a good idea to use a security bolt and nut, such as a shear off nut or breakaway nut as they are sometimes called. Once installed these are much more difficult to remove.

Get All the Details

The bottom line about high security palisade fencing is that not everything that is labelled that way is actually a high security product.

Don't ever take a security fence quote at face value. Get a detailed specification, and question everything that doesn't seem to fit the idea of high security.

There is no such thing as a fence or a wall that can't be breached - but a good high security palisade fence system will certainly slow people down, and definitely make them think twice about attempting to breach your facility or installation.