Contractors and property owners often rely on inexpensive plastic caps to cover exposed steel fence posts, but according to Anthony Burr, founder of Safety Pickets, Inc., that low upfront price can mask far greater hidden costs. Burr, who spent years as a concreter working around exposed steel star pickets—the Australian term for steel T-posts—invented a reusable steel cap after witnessing the dangers firsthand. He argues that when a cap fails or goes missing, the consequences can dwarf the initial savings.
Burr’s comparison begins with a straightforward order: covering 100 posts with his company’s steel caps costs roughly $250 to $300, and the caps can be reused indefinitely. In contrast, he cites an Australian case where uncovered posts led to a fall and a fine of $115,000. “That’s just a fine,” Burr said, noting that the figure excludes site shutdowns, medical bills, or legal claims. For a contractor weighing a few hundred dollars against a six-figure penalty, the gap is stark.
Even minor incidents carry real costs. If a worker cuts a shin on an exposed post and needs stitches, the contractor faces medical bills and pays the worker for the day of injury and any recovery days. “It can go into the tens of thousands easily,” Burr said. Beyond liability, plastic caps often break, blow away, and become brittle in sun and rain, requiring frequent replacement. When comparing costs for customers switching from plastic, Burr’s company excludes liability and focuses solely on replacement. Covering 1,000 posts over five years with reusable steel caps yields a 60 percent saving compared with continually rebuying plastic ones, according to Burr. He adds that steel caps do not rust and will likely outlast the posts themselves. The company details how reusable steel caps cut replacement and waste on its sustainability page.
Labor is another overlooked expense. Plastic caps must be put on and removed every time posts are used, a task Burr describes as the job no one wants. “Every time you put them on, there’s probably half an hour. Every time you take them off, there’s another half an hour,” he said. “So it adds up quite quickly that the plastic caps aren’t actually cheaper.”
Burr also highlights a risk many contractors overlook: unauthorized individuals. If someone wanders onto a site after hours, even someone who has been drinking, and gets hurt on an exposed post, the owner can still face legal action. “They shouldn’t have, but they have every right to be able to sue,” he said. For US contractors and property owners, where post-injury legal claims are common, that exposure warrants consideration.
For those still using plastic caps because nothing has gone wrong yet, Burr’s advice is blunt. “If something can go wrong, then it will,” he said. “So just the labor costs, the liability, the headaches, and the stress are all hidden costs. Hidden costs that will add up over time. You may not have to outlay it. But it catches up very quickly.” A practical exercise is to price out replacement caps over several years, labor hours for installation and removal, and the realistic cost of a single injury, then compare that with the one-time cost of a reusable option. Safety Pickets, Inc. designs and manufactures a patented, reusable steel safety cap for star pickets and T-posts, currently sold across Australia and expanding into the US market. Learn more at safetypickets.com.
