Security & decorative mesh screens

What it is

Security and decorative mesh screens are framed steel panels with mesh infill, built into enclosures, cages, partitions, fences and screens. They keep people out of plant rooms, electrical and mechanical equipment, chemical and gas cylinder stores, tool rooms and tenant storage, while keeping the space ventilated, visible and easy to inspect. The same construction, in finer or patterned infill, makes decorative screens for car parks, courtyards, stair voids and building services.

The infill is chosen from heavy expanded metal, welded wire mesh or perforated panels, framed in angle, channel or hollow section, and assembled with posts, gates and locking hardware. For handrail and guardrail infill, see mesh infill panels; for retrofitting existing handrails, see handrail infill retrofit panels.

Types and options

Options include sliding or hinged gates, padlock hasps or lock boxes for mortice locks, anti-lift hinges, tamper-resistant fasteners, kick plates, and mesh roofs for cages. Enclosures around high-voltage equipment are detailed to the electrical authority's clearances and earthing requirements.

Design and compliance

Most enclosures, cages and partitions are designed for their own weight, wind where outdoors (AS/NZS 1170.2, ASCE 7 or EN 1991-1-4) and the barrier or impact loads the owner specifies. Electrical installations have their own rules on enclosure height and clearances – for example the NFPA 70 (NEC) requirements for fenced high-voltage areas in the US, and local wiring rules elsewhere. Guards around moving machinery follow EN ISO 14120, EN ISO 13857, AS 4024.1 or OSHA 1910.212.

Security ratings are product-specific. Security screen doors and window grilles to AS 5039 / AS 5040 (tested to AS 5041), burglar resistance classes to EN 1627 and attack-resistance ratings under LPS 1175 apply only to products tested as complete systems. World Steel does not hold such ratings; where a rated screen is required, we fabricate only to the tested design and components supplied by the system owner.

Ventilation, access for maintenance and egress from inside a cage must also be considered; doors that lock from outside may need a release from inside where people can be enclosed.

Fabrication and finishing at World Steel

Mesh stock is supplied by specialist mills; frames, posts, gates and brackets are cut, drilled and welded in the World Steel plant in Vietnam, with the mesh welded or bolted into the frames on jigs so that panels are square and interchangeable. Welding follows qualified procedures under ISO 3834-2 and the AS/NZS 5131 and EN 1090-2 systems we are certified to. Panels are hot-dip galvanised after fabrication by qualified galvanisers; a duplex powder coat adds colour for visible areas.

Enclosures can be trial-assembled where specified, then marked, packed flat and shipped with the platforms or equipment support structures they enclose – see packing and shipping.

Selecting and specifying

• Define what the screen must do – keep people out, keep tools or stock in, screen a view, or guard a machine.
• Give layout, heights, gate positions and swing, lock type and keying, and any security standard that applies.
• State mesh type and aperture, frame section, fixing to floor and structure, and finish and colour.
• For electrical enclosures, include the authority's clearance and earthing requirements.