FAQS

Most Frequenty Asked

  • We have a range of waterway barrier solutions, including ODINBoom, TUFFBOOM, and BB20 Debris Master. All are designed to keep floating trash and debris from water intakes and turbine inlets. Our waterway barrier application experts can quickly size up your site to let you know about the barrier(s) most suitable for solving your particular debris challenge.

  • Worthington adheres to the industry’s best practices for safety signage at dams. We adhere to FEMA, FERC, Canadian Dam Associations, and US Army Corps of Engineers standards. Our dam signs represent the “Best in Practice,” our signage experts can help you revamp your sign program above and below the dam.

  • Sure! Just tell us what lengths you require. We will be happy to accommodate your needs.

  • Worthington's BoatBuster barrier and ODINFloat barriers are designed to minimize resistance to debris. In certain conditions, these booms will rotate to allow debris to pass. BoatBuster and ODINFloat are used above low-head dams on rivers and in headponds, below spillways and tailraces at hydroelectric power plants.

  • Worthington has boom installations in small canals measuring less than 50 feet across to giant reservoirs spanning more than a mile. No site is too small or too large for a Worthington barrier. Contact us to learn more.

  • Yellow is our standard because it’s high visibility in low-light conditions and is visible to those with color blindness. We also offer standard boom colors in Forest Green, Log-Boom Brown, Safety Orange, Black, White, Tan, and any other color you desire. Often for only a minor upcharge.

  • There are many differences between these two products. The most obvious difference is in material and design life.

    TUFFBOOM is an economical boom produced using a rotational molding process. It has a wall thickness of about 1/4" and generally provides for a 15 to 20-year design life in most conditions. ODINBoom is made from co-extruded HDPE and features a 1-1/4" (32mm) wall thickness.

    ODINBoom offers greater strength and a design life of 50 years. Both are excellent products used for debris, safety, ice, and security projects.

  • Our barrier application experts are here to assist in the process and we can quickly assess a site and make a recommendation during an intial phone conversation.

  • All of Worthington's waterway barriers are multi-purpose and can be used for debris, safety, ice and security.

  • Yes, Worthington can offer full engineering and design services to the end user. We also offer bespoke engineering services for the design engineer who needs to know boom line tension and a few other details in order to complete a design.

  • The most common requirements from engineering firms relate to the selection of the product type, anchor design, and performance criteria. We can help in all of these areas providing the design engineer with as little - or as much - information needed to complete the design.

  • We do! Worthington partners with reputable, safety-conscious marine contractors to get the job done right, on-time and within budget.

  • Yes. Worthington has many capabilities, including using full-depth nets and geo-membranes for fish exclusion, bitumen control, and other purposes.

Engineering/Design

  • Yes. We can provide multple levels of engineering. We can also provide installation for a 100% turnkey project.

  • We are happy to provide design engineers with CAD drawings and other support services to aid in their efforts.

  • Fuse Links are a great tool that allows our design engineers to provide a controlled and predictable break location in the boom line when conditions exceed set parameters.

  • Our barrier application experts are here to assist in the process and we can quickly assess a site and make a recommendation during an intial phone conversation.

  • Every site is unique. Where the goal is to pass debris, we select an optimal angle based on site parameters.

    If we can get the angle to flow in the range of 22 to 45 degress, that generally allows for good shear results.

  • No problem. Worrthington boom systems are designed to deliver functionality and performance in almost any conditions.

  • We use all type of anchor systems including concrete deadman, grouted chain into bedrock, drag anchors, danforth anchors, piles and more.

    The choice of anchor is influenced by site conditions, geotechnical parameters, and even local equipment capability.

    Your Worthington barrier specialist will be able to advise you on the anchoring options for your site based on site parameters.

  • The anchors are sized according to the caculated boom lien tension plus an added factor of safety. Worthington utulizes a multitude of anchor materials. The largest anchors typically occur when the anchor is made from concrete and is unable to be set in the ground.

    These anchors can get quite large which is why Worthington's barrier application experts will work with you to determine the best anchor options for your site.

  • Yes…and No. The most common type of anchor is a concreate deadman. However, the size of the concrete block can become vary large depending if it rests on the surface, is buried, rests above the water line, is in water, and it varies on the type of sol or rock that it rests on.

    Worthington takes these factors into consideration when designing and recomending anchor systems. Other more affordable anchors could be chain or steel rod grouted into bedrock, danforth or ship anchors, piles, stockless or Delta anchors and other possibilities.

    Your Worthington barrier expert can provide guidance based on site conditions of the the anchoring options.

  • Worthington can provide complete anchor design, including onsite geo-tech work to obtain site data. We can also provide the boom lie tension at the anchor points to allow your own in-house engineers to complete the final anchor design.

  • Life expectancy varies according to site conditions but as a general rule of thumb, the following can be expected.

    Our totomolded series of booms (Tuffboom, BoatBuster) should be expected to provide a 15-20 year life.

    We have some sites where the booms are still operational after 25 years. Our steel pontoons have a 25-30 life expectancy.

    Our HDPE series fo floats can be expected to ahve a 50-year life expectancy.

  • We use all type of anchor systems including concrete deadman, grouted chain into bedrock, drag anchors, danforth anchors, piles and more.

    The choice an anchor is influenced by site conditions, geotechnical parameters, and even local equipment capability.

    Your Worthington barrier specialist will be able to advise you on the anchoring options for your site based on site parameters.

  • There is no set rule for using steel or concrete blocks. Generally however, if the soild conditions are favorable where we can assure the steel anchor will be able to grab and hold to the soil, then it is our preference to design using steel anchors due to the ease of installation and lower overall costs.

  • HDPE stands for High Density Polyethylene. It is a very dense and non-pourous material that is producted using oil based polymers.

    This combination prevents an adequate bond of paint to HDPE and the result is the paint quickly peels. Worthington does not offer nor do we recommend painting HDPE barriers.

  • Our HDPE welders are trained and certified to the leading best practices for fusion welding and quality.

    Worthington owns its own fusion welding equipment and our operators undergoes rigorous ongoing training and certification.

Pricing

  • Yes. We show shipping as a separate line item and will also let you know the type of equipment the booms would ship on.

    For cross-border shipments, we will typically also provide for customs clearance, brokerage fees, and related taxes.

  • We design and manufacture dam safety signs of all sizes and wording. Our signs follow the best practices in accordance with FEMA Sign Standards and the Canadian Dam Safety Association.

  • Worthington's waterway barriers are systems that may include anchorages, fuse links, signage, graphics, solar lights, mooring buoys, anchor chains, and more.

    For this reason, it is not possible to provide pricing on the web site. However, our barrier experts can quickly size a location to get you pricing and options either as a budgetary number or a hard quote in a short period of time.

  • We are happy to provide pricing by the lineal meter or foot. The pricing will be dependent on what is included with the boom system.

    Please contact us, or your Worthington barrier specialist who can provide pricing.

Process

  • Worthington offers three levels of design services. The simplest level is where we provide a quick calculation to determine the boom line tension at the anchor points based entirely on data provided by the client. This can be completed overnight for rush projects or within 1-week on standard jobs.

    Our second level of engineering provides the boom lien tension along with a general layout drawing and an optional design brief. This level can take anywhere from 2 up to 7 weeks to complete and is highly dependent on the client having the right data to our engineers prior to starting the work.

    Our third level of design is where Worthington fully engineers the project including site visits, client consultation, pre-design assumptions, design briefs, drawings, and submittal packages at 30%, 60%, IFR, and IFC stages. These complex projects will take more time which will be confirmed at the time of quote."

  • For standard and simple projects where the product is known and the distances are established, we can get pricing out within 24-hours.

    More complex projects and especially those requiring both an engineering and installation component will require more time.

  • Yes, we can issue budgetary estimates.

  • Problems do occur and that is why your choice of a barrier manufacturer is so important and should not be based on price alone.

    Worthington has been in business for more than 25 years because we stand behind our products. If something goes wrong, call or email us.

    We want tom hear and we will do everything in our means to make it right.

  • We will provide you with a easy to use project questionaire that detaisl the information required. Generally however, you should be prepared to provide the location of the boom so we can reference on a map, the desired layout/position, length, surface flow velocity in FPS or MPS, wind speed, waves, ice conditions.

    With that information, our barrier design experts can quickly determine the optimal style of barrier, prepare quick cost estiamtes, and provide you with a general scope.

  • All of Worthington's waterway barrier systems are designed to require minimal maintenance and upkeep. Hardware is designed with sufficient safety factors and allowances for wear and corrosion to provide long life.

    We are happy to provide our clients with maitenance and operations manuals for each specific product option.

  • For the majority of locations there is no need to remove the debris. Shifting winds and currents often carry debris fiedls away from the boom line.

    Where possible, we desing the booms to allow debris to shear towards an area where it can be passed downstream or into a central land based cllection point where it can be easily removed using a trashraker, excavator, or other equipment.

  • We love to geet out into the field because our people love dams and hydropower plants. Give us a call and we will schedule a site visit.

  • Yes, Worthington offers complete turnkey solutions including installation.

Shipping

  • Yes. Our logistics experts have experience exporting and importing into 65 countries. We can certainly help you.

  • Yes. Our logistics experts have experience exporting and importing into 65 countries. We can certainly help you.

  • While we do nto have "distributors" who stock our products, we do have sales agents in some regions of the world.

    When you contact Worthington, our staff will direct you to the proper contact which might be a product specialist in our main office or an independent agent trained in barrier development.

  • For most international shipments our practice is to follow INCOTERMS either as DDP or Ddu depending on the destination and complexity.

  • Shipping costs will vary dpending on the product, quantity, and weight. Ann additional factor to consider is the location. Many dams are located in remote areas or in regions not easily accessible which increases the overall shipping costs.

    Worthington has dedicated logistics professionals who can quickly size up a site to provide realistic expecations of equipment, quantity, and cost.

  • We love Ireland and we have some great installations there. In fact, Worthington barriers are installed in over 65 countries while we have production on 4 continents to support our international install base.

    Our logistics experts are experienced getting the goods to any destination in the world.

Use Cases

  • Worthington sells repalcement hardware and we maintain adequate stocking levels of this hardware.

    For older boom lines, our clients are pleasantly surprised to learn that we have developed improved replacement hardware that is stronger, more durable, and designed for direct replacement on older systems.

  • Absolutely. Our TUFFBOOM® barrier is used specifically for this purpose in both river and lake-based marinas.

  • Worthington has extensive experience designing and installing effective ice boom systems in river and reservoir environments.

    Our ODINBoom® co-extruded HDPE barriers offer exceptional strength and because they never corrode or require surface coating common to steel pontoons, they deliver a lower total cost of ownership over the life of the system.

    Our ice boom systems are designed to allow the formation of an upstream ice sheet to slow the heat loss thus preventing the formation of frazil and slush ice that quickly blocks intake structures.

  • Yes. Our level-one design service is intended just for this purpose - to aid engineers in the proper sizing of in-water and shoreline anchoring components.

    Provide us with the site parameters and especially the surface velocities at the boom line, orientation, number of in-water and shoreline anchor points, wind, waves, and debris, and our applications engineers will be able to provide the proper loads.

  • Low Head Dams also referred to "drowning machines" or "killing machines" should be avoided by swimmers and boaters.

    Worthington has a complete range of public safety options for low head dams which include signage, bouys, booms, and floating cable systems that can be deployed above and below these dangerous dams.

    Our barrier experts are specifically trained in the hazards of low head dams and ar eequipped to provide you with the best set of options to safeguard the public when encountering these lcoations.

  • Water level changes are a normal occurance for Worthington. We have designed systems in level fluctuations as large as 90 meters and in sites with regular silt-flushing and drawdown conditions.

  • Worthington's BoatBuster barrier is ideal for providing a highly visible low mainteance demarcation barrier where you can customize the distance between floats depending on your risk level.

  • We have multpe sign float options. Let us know the surface velocity, wind speed and wave activity where the signs will be placed and we can quickly provide you the option most suited for your site.

    As a general rule, in flow conditions below 1.5 fps such as on a slow moving river or lake, our half-barrelled style design works well. Where wind, waves, and flow are above 1.5 fps or in river pplications, our pontoon style floats are the ideally suited to meet your requirements.

  • Yes, we stock most standard boom types and accessories allowing us to meet tight deadlines and even emergency shipments.

  • If surface velocities are not above, 3 fps, our TUFFBOOM barrier with skirts underneath would be ideal. In high velocity locations, we might recommend an alternate design.

    To get started, let us know the locations, desired orientation of the boom lines and canal surface velocities. This basic informaion will allow our barrier design experts to quickly assess the requirements to recommend a working solution.

  • Worthington sells repalcement hardware and we maintain adequate stocking levels of this hardware. For older boom lines, our clients are pleasantly surprised to learn that we have developed improved repalcement hardware that is stronger, more durable and designed for direct replacement on older systems.