A guard shack (also referred to as a guard booth) is an enclosure intended for a guard, or any other security personnel, and surveillance equipment to monitor a surrounding area, all while being isolated and protected. Guard shacks can be placed along the perimeter of the surveyed area, at the entrance, or even at the heart of the premises. You will often find guard shacks or booths scattered around sites such as manufacturing facilities, warehouses, government installations, office buildings, universities and high schools
With the important task of keeping the premises safe and keeping a constant watch, guard shacks must provide a high level of security themselves with top rated construction materials, as well as options to ensure employee comfort for long hours on watch.
As discussed in a previous blog, safer guard booths result in happier employees. But how can you make your prefabricated guard shacks safer and what are your options? Porta-King is dedicated to making your guard shack as safe as possible through implementing:
- Durable, low maintenance products
- Ballistic-ratings
- Seismic resistance & Wind Resistance
- Impact resistance
Durable & Maintenance Free Assembly
All of Porta-King’s prefabricated buildings are designed to provide you with years of durable, maintenance-free use. Without rust or surface deterioration affecting the quality and durability of your guard shack, it will be one less worry on you and your employees’ minds.
Ballistic-Rated Guard Shacks
According to FEMA, “ballistic-resistant design involves both the blocking of sightlines to conceal the occupants and the use of ballistic-resistant materials to minimize the effectiveness of the weapon.” All of Porta-King’s ballistic-rated prefabricated buildings are available in UL 752 levels 1-8 and NIJ III-IV, which are standards for ballistic resistant equipment.
Porta-King’s Durasteel ballistic-rated buildings are all constructed with welded steel and offer protection from grade to the roof line as a standard. With custom designed guard shacks, you can ensure that the ballistic rating meets your individual needs.
Seismic Resistance & Wind Resistance
In seismic heavy areas, it is very important to ensure that guard shacks are built to withstand seismic conditions. Seismic resistance makes a guard shack safer by providing a safe environment when an earthquake or other natural disaster occurs. The building won’t collapse or be damaged.
All exterior guard buildings are designed to withstand the wind loads established for the geographical location of the installation. Coastal areas can be particularly challenging since buildings must be designed to resist hurricane-force winds.
Impact Resistance
Although the interior walls of our ballistic rated guard shacks are not subjected to the same potential as the ballistic rated exterior, they can still take a fair amount of abuse. To ensure the walls will last, Porta-king uses a 16 gauge exterior skin around the entire interior perimeter. In addition to impact resistant interior walls, Porta-King incorporates other time tested, heavy-duty features like steel reinforced counters and aluminum tread-plate finished floors, to name few.
Keeping Your Employees Secured
We design our guard shacks to be both practical and comfortable to accommodate long shifts, keeping employee workflow optimal within excellent working conditions . Guard shacks require a design that is self-sustaining and meets the demands of the facility it is tasked with surveying. Porta-King’s guard shacks boast customizable sizes and layouts, climate control and pre-wired set-ups, as well as factory plumbed facilities.
