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Advice for landlords, owners and FM’s on safety in vicinity of gates
During the summer of 2010 two children died after becoming trapped in powered gates.
New advice has now been issued on the action required so that the public, staff, and other workers are not put at risk by the design, construction and operation of powered perimeter gates.
HSE General Safety Notice Bulletin OPSTD 1-2011 provides advise to “landlords, commercial owners or facilities managers of properties with Powered Perimeter Gates” and what they must do to ensure the safety of people in the vicinity of such gates.
Action required
- “Check your gate is being maintained by a reputable company who regularly test the safety features of the gate to ensure they are set and working correctly – they should use measuring equipment to test closing forces. Keep a log of maintenance.
- Ask the gate maintenance company to show you how to release the gate in an emergency – this should be easy and quick to do. You may need to inform your staff or other users how to do this.
- Also ask them to show you the safety features including:-
- any safety edges (usually rubber “buffer” strips running the full height of the gate);
- light beams to detect a person or object in the way of the closing gate;
- the operation of the force limitation device (although this is unlikely to be enough to stop injury on its own);
- fixed guards at other areas e.g. where the vertical bars of a gate slide close to the vertical bars of a fence.
- If you are purchasing a new gate, check that the installer can show you the features explained above, and that they will CE mark the gate and issue you a Declaration of Conformity. If they are unsure about how to do this it may be a reason to doubt their competence.”