The Safe Use Of An Automatic Garage Door

As the largest moving object within most properties it is imperative that garage doors are safe to operate and comply with government legislation.

The motor on an automatic garage door is a machine and must therefore be safe to operate. It is a legal requirement under the “Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations” that all such operators must be safe and be labelled with the European CE mark to confirm compliance.

Potential Hazards

The most important consideration is the potential for the door to strike or crush the person operating the door with sufficient force to cause injury.

Cases have arisen not only in the UK but worldwide where automatic garage doors have caused injury and in a few even killed the operative.

In a number of the cases, the motor had either been incorrectly installed or had not been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer`s instructions.

Achieving the required standard

As detailed above, electrically operated garage doors must be safe. This includes been safeguarded against accidents including any that may happen as a result of misuse.

 BS EN 13241-1 is the European standard which enables a supplier to prove that a door is safe.

This legislation provides two options for the protection of operatives from doors which close automatically.

1. Prevention of a collision occurring with a moving door.
2. Limiting the force on the operative in the event that a collision does occur.

Most manufacturers find option one to be both costly and inconvenient as sensors would be required to detect any approaching person, then stop the door before the person came into contact with it. It must be noted that a single photocell cannot achieve this.

The majority of garage door operators feature the second option as they are more realistic and more easily achievable.

Safety devices

The design of the majority of garage door operators contain in built safety features designed to stop the door and reverse the motor should it come into contact with an obstruction or person.

There are however two situations when this feature may not be available or become ineffective.

Up and Over Canopy Garage Doors

This type of door requires the use of a bow arm adaptor to allow a traditional garage door operator to open and close the door safely and effectively. If the bow arm is incorrectly specified, it may mean that the inbuilt safety features of the motor do not recognise that an obstruction has been detected until a dangerous level of force has been applied.

In order to comply with BS EN 12453 it is imperative that a combination of door, drive unit and adaptor has been tested together and was found to of complied with the above British Standard.

Insulated Roller Garage Doors

The majority of insulated roller garage doors are fitted with a tubular motor. Although great at opening and closing the door they tend not to have inbuilt features to limit the amount of force been applied during operation.

Due to this factor any reputable door supplier will have additional in built safety features like a wireless safety edge installed on the bottom edge of the door curtain. This works by sensing an object and immediately stopping the door therefore giving force limitation.