A heavy wooden sliding gate was mechanically defective when it fell and crushed a five year old girl outside her home, an inquest heard.
The young victim died just weeks before her sixth birthday after the gate de-railed from its sliders and fell, trapping the child underneath.
to read the full story please view The Irish Independant
To ensure you meet all the standards, you need to use a reputable gate safety certified company when considering gate upgrades, or when checking the current status of your gate. Ensure they carry out a risk assessment before any work is conducted, a risk assessment allows the Automation Engineer to assess the potential risks associated with your particular gate based on location, usage, external forces and security. Conducting this assessment first allows the company to give an accurate estimate on costs and also ensures that you are meeting the standards above ensuring all potential risks have bee appropriately addressed.
If you want to add any access control based software to commercial gates you should check that your supplier is registered with the Private Security Authority.
You need to make every effort to protect the safety of those that will come into contact with the gate. The best way to do this is to employ a company that is DHF(Door Hardware Federation) certified to conduct any risk assessments on current gates or to speak with the architect during the design, as if the gate is designed without safety in mind it may ruin the aesthetic appeal once all safety apparatus has been added.
When was the last time your gate has been risk assessed? If your answer is never or your gate is over 2 years old then there is a high possibility that you are at risk of causing injury and as such are responsible for any injuries that occur.
Gate safety on commercial properties is ultimately down to the property owner. There is a provision that states the facility management company or installer has to leave the gate in a fit state for use but it is upto the owner to ensure that they have done all in their power to make the gate safe. i.e. have a risk assessment conducted and follow the recommendations. It is also worth noting that all commercial gates require a maintenace contract by law and need to be serviced in line with manufacturer guidelines.
The Health and Safety Authority have recently released the full Guidelines on the Safety of Powered Gates. Please click here to download.
If you would like more information on gate safety or to schedule a risk assessment with one of our team please get in touch.
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