A steel rope safety system includes at least one steel rope having at least one strand, and the at least one rope or at least one strand is compacted. Further, a method is provided for making a steel rope safety system comprising the step of providing at least two wires, the step of stranding the wires thereby forming a strand for a rope and the step of compacting the strand. The steel rope safety system includes a guardrail system having vertical poles and horizontal compacted ropes which are held in place by hooks. The steel rope safety system may include non-round shaped, such as trapezoidal shaped compacted wires. There is likewise provided the use of compacted steel ropes as impact reducing material.