YORK, Pa., Feb. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A-SAFE, the inventor and global leader in polymer safety solutions, today announced completion of the industry’s first safety testing and certification under the ANSI MH31.2 standard developed by MHI ProGMA.
MHI ProGMA developed ANSI MH31.2 to establish a common, independently verifiable crash-testing method for industrial guardrails and barriers. But for years, the industry has lacked clarity on a set of safety standards to use. As material handling environments become faster and more automated, collisions with industrial infrastructure are increasingly common—driving up equipment damage costs, downtime costs, worker risk, and OSHA regulatory exposure. In response, MHI ProGMA has called for wide use of the testing standards to reduce such incidents in industrial environments.
Testing under the MH31.2 standard evaluates barriers intended to protect people, assets, and infrastructure in industrial facilities such as warehouses, distribution centers, data centers, manufacturing sites, and more.
As MHI ProGMA advances MH31.2 across the industry, A-SAFE stepped forward to become the first polymer safety barrier provider to complete the testing. Conducted February 3-6, A-SAFE tested its industrial safety barriers in real-world material handling environments, reflecting its focus on engineered performance and alignment with the requirements that safety professionals, engineers, and procurement teams need.
“For too long, U.S. safety leaders and specifiers have lacked certainty on how to independently verify barrier performance,” said Dean Borrington, Director of Research & Development at A-SAFE. “MH31.2 provides a clear, repeatable way to measure impact protection, and we were happy to submit our systems to the rigorous process. A-SAFE’s testing proves — with hard numbers — how our barriers outperform when they’re actually hit in demanding material handling environments.”
“MH31.2 is a major milestone for the safety barrier industry in the U.S.,” James Smith, CEO and co-founder of A-SAFE. “We agree that the independent standard should be the baseline for this category. By completing certification first, we’re making it easier for safety teams to confidently get the right protection in place, and raising the bar across the industry.”
About A-SAFE
A-SAFE delivers intelligent safety infrastructure for the modern industrial workplace. As the inventor of the polymer safety barrier, A-SAFE combines advanced engineering with digital innovation to help industrial organizations prevent incidents, minimize downtime, and ensure compliance. Operating in more than 65 countries, A-SAFE partners with the world’s leading brands to make safety a driver of operational excellence.
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