Anthony Burr, a former concreter, has turned a common jobsite frustration into a patented safety product. After years of dealing with plastic caps that cracked, snapped, and blew away from exposed steel posts, Burr founded Safety Pickets, Inc. The company's steel cap is now sold through Bunnings Warehouse in Australia and is preparing for a US launch.
The problem was longstanding. On every new home build, steel star pickets and T-posts are installed to form concrete slabs. Each exposed post requires a protective cap to prevent worker injuries. However, the plastic caps were unreliable, degrading under sun and wind, and leaving sharp steel exposed on active sites. Burr recalls the breaking point on a rainy Saturday when he had to leave the site to buy more caps just to secure it over the weekend. 'That's when the idea came to me, and I thought, I'm going to explore this and see if we can create a solution,' he said.
Initial attempts to find a manufacturer were met with skepticism. 'The first 10 to 15 people that I went to said, 'Oh, you can't do this; it's not possible,' Burr said. 'I thought, all right, well, I don't give up that easily.' He eventually found a partner willing to try, and the prototype proved the concept. The design underwent significant changes, evolving from a bulky version that required welding to a lightweight cap that presses directly onto the picket, eliminating extra labor on site.
The safety implications are significant. The cap, made from high-strength low-alloy steel, removes sharp edges and injury risks while replacing a disposable plastic item that often ends up in landfills or as roadside litter. The product has been patented in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States, and is now stocked in Bunnings Warehouse, Australia's largest hardware chain, without regional distributors in between.
With the Australian rollout underway, Burr is now focusing on the US market. He has had discussions with contacts in Florida's road and infrastructure sector, signaling early interest. For Burr, the story behind the product matters: it emerged from genuine, repeated frustration on a real jobsite, not a corporate research exercise. That authenticity, he believes, will resonate with US buyers and partners.
The move to the US comes as safety standards in construction, civil, agricultural, and municipal sectors tighten globally. The product's durability and reusability offer a sustainable and safety-enhancing alternative to plastic caps. As Safety Pickets expands, it aims to address a niche but critical need: protecting workers from preventable injuries on job sites. For more details on the product's construction and applications, visit the Safety Pickets product page.
