Automatic doors are a practical way to keep doorways sanitary and help traffic move efficiently. But they must be properly inspected to ensure the sensors and motor controls function safely.
Industry standards require daily safety inspections on all types of powered pedestrian doors. These include swinging automatic doors and sliding and folding automatic doors.
Safety Measures
A door system is a complex piece of machinery that uses mechanical, electrical, and electronic components working together to provide seamless and convenient access. A typical system includes a door operator, sensors, door closers, and a control system that manages the operation.
Store management must perform daily inspections of all safety devices to ensure they are functioning correctly and consistently. This includes ensuring that the sensor detection coverage is wide enough to prevent arm or hand entrapment and that all components, including the motor, operate safely and regularly.
It is also essential to ensure that the doors remain free of obstructions. This should include removing decorations, sales promotions, mats, or anything blocking the doorway or interfering with the sensors. In addition, it is necessary to check for interference caused by adverse weather conditions, such as snow or rain. These can affect the door sensors and may result in unexpected–and dangerous–behavior.
Security Vulnerabilities
While doors are integral to business operations, they must be inspected daily to ensure that all sensors and motor controls operate correctly. Performing daily safety checks not only helps keep employees and clients safe and reduces maintenance costs by identifying minor issues that can be easily corrected.
As such, keeping security in mind when designing and installing any automatic door system is essential. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
As with any technological system, sensors used in doorways can be vulnerable to attack. For instance, the sensors can be manipulated to feed incorrect data to that can cause the very accidents they’re designed to prevent. This is why security considerations must be integrated into the silicon and software design at the initial stages of production. By doing so, redundancy can be built to protect systems against exploitation.
Installation
While automated door safety compliance can provide a more sanitary and convenient doorway access system, they are not without its issues. Most importantly, they must be properly installed and maintained.
These systems can consist of swinging automatic doors that are single left or right-handed doors that open or close a doorway; sliding automatic doors that move horizontally to open a portal and straighten out to complete the entrance; or folding automatic doors that fold vertically in an accordion style to open a doorway and then straighten out to close it. These doors can also include a variety of sensors and controls.
These systems are subject to industry Standards developed under the protocols. Generally, these Standards will include an assessment to identify health and safety risks (and, where possible, eliminate them), provide safeguards where they cannot be eliminated, and requirements for installation, operation, and maintenance. The supply of these powered doors is also typically covered by the Needs of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
Maintenance
Like all electrical machinery, powered doors and their sensor systems need to be regularly checked and serviced to ensure they are functioning correctly and protecting the health & safety of building users. The Supply of Machinery Safety Regulations mandates these requirements and further standards.
As a business owner, you are obligated to your customers/visitors/staff to provide them with a safe environment while on your premises. This begins at the entrance to your property and should always include the condition of your automated doors.
If an automatic door fails to operate correctly, you could be putting your customers at risk and even facing legal action. Avoid this scenario by following our maintenance advice and ensuring your doors work as they should. This is the best way to guarantee safety compliance and protect your business.