Gate Safety is of paramount importance to us at Swan Gates.
Recent Events:
Two recent, separate, incidents that both led to the deaths of young children have highlighted a risk of using automatic vehicle access gates. (These incidents are in addition to an earlier fatality, which also involved a young child in 2006, and other recent near misses). Whilst these recent fatalities involved automatic sliding gates, this Safety Notice applies to all powered access gates.
In both these cases, the children were trapped between the closing edge of the gate and the gate post at the end of the gates’ travel. They were trapped because:
- Their presence in the vicinity of the closing edge was not detected; and
- The closing force of the gate when they obstructed it was not limited to the values specified in Annex A of BS EN 12453:2001.
By law all new electric gates must meet the requirements of:
EN12453 – Industrial, commercial and garage doors and gates. Safety is use of power-operated doors. Requirements.
EN 12445 – Industrial, commercial and garage doors and gates. Safety is use of power-operated doors. Test methods.
The Standard:
BS EN 12453:2001 recommends a minimum level of safeguarding against the crushing hazard at the closing edge of the gate depending on the type of environment in which the gate is operating. The Standard defines 3 types of use:
Type 1 – The gate is only used by trained users and there is no intended, inadvertent or unauthorised access to it by members of the public.
Type 2 – A limited group of persons (for example persons sharing a block of flats) are trained to operate the gate and the gate is located in a public area.
Type 3 – Any person is free to operate the gate and the gate is in contact with the general public.
The Standard advises on the minimum levels of safeguarding of the main edge according to its type of use. Type 1 gates are not considered further in this safety notice because they are not located in the vicinity of the general public.
In the case of those powered gates categorised as Type 2 or Type 3 and which have automatic control, the advised level of safeguarding is to:
Limit forces according to Annex A of the Standard using force limitation devices or sensitive protective equipment
AND
Provide a means for the detection of the presence of a person or an obstacle standing on the floor at one side of the gate.
Alternatively, a means for detection of the presence a person, which is designed in a way that in no circumstances can that person be touched by the moving gate leaf, can be provided.
What We Do:
All our new installations are complete with a safety pack, which compromises of photocells for obstacle detection and rubber safety edges on all entrapment points. We also fit safety meshing on sites where it maybe a requirement due to the gate setup.
Gates that we take on as part of a maintenance package or repairs will always be examined for any potential safety concerns and we will always highlight this to the customer or condemn any gate which we feel is highly dangerous.
Proving that we are serious about gate safety, Swan Gates are now certified Gate Safe Aware Installers.
