How to safeguard Automated gates

Badly designed and installed electric swing gates and sliding gates have caused significant injuries and even death.I t is important to understand the potential dangers from electric gates that have not been installed by qualified installers aware of the safety issues and best practices.

What Are The Risks?

The risks that electric gates pose depend on how gates move through their surroundings in relation to pillars, posts, walls, railings, fences and other gates. Risk is also created with the possibility of moving gates come into contact with a vehicle or person. Electric gates can cause impact, crushing, drawing in, hooking, shearing and cutting injuries.

How Can The Risks Be Reduced?

A qualified installer will use a safety audit to identify the potential risks and propose systems and procedures for gate use that eliminate as many as possible. They will ensure that access to areas where risks are present or can be created is restricted or eliminated and that users are educated about the potential dangers.

Equipment that may be included in safe gate design include physical guarding to prevent access to risk areas, electronic safety beam photocells before and after the gate and pressure edges on the gates and other system elements. Signage that explains safe operation of the gates can be included and all electric gate installations should have manual release systems and users should know where the manual release key is kept. These allow the gate motors to be disconnected from the gate so that the gate can easily be moved manually in the event of power failure, breakdown or emergency.

What’s The Best Way To Keep Gates Safe?

One of the simplest ways to ensure on-going safe operation of gates, within the parameters established through the safety audit, is to keep them working optimally. Electric gates should ideally be serviced annually or twice a year depending on how frequently they are used and the safety devices that have been installed. Safety devices such as photocells and pressure edges should be regularly checked to ensure correct operation.

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