September 2015 marked the fifth anniversary of Gate Safe – the charity founded following the deaths of two children in separate automated gate accidents. Five years on Gate Safe insists there is still much to be done to improve the safety of automated gates and barriers in the UK.
With a further five deaths and eight ‘near miss’ accidents since the original fatalities in 2010 and industry figures claiming that over 90pc of automated gates potentially pose a serious safety risk, Gate Safe has launched a petition. The campaign encourages government to consider the introduction of planning permission consent (which would require the gate to be fitted by a suitably trained professional installer) in a bid to regulate all new automated gate installations, putting an end to the creation of any further unsafe gates.
Also planned: the roll out of the innovative interactive Safe Gate Visualiser; the launch of a series of guidance documents designed to provide ‘safe gate’ guidance to a range of specialist audiences; the roll out of a series of blogs written by Gate Safe and various guests; a new video; a dedicated media relations drive and the launch of an awards scheme designed to identify examples of best practice within the installer community.
The original Gate Safe Summit in September 2010 sought to bring together representatives from a broad cross section of companies and generic trade and safety organisations, which Gate Safe identified as all having a role to play in calling for the introduction of tighter guidance pertaining to automated gate safety. Since then Gate Safe has joined forces with 11 bodies to enlist their support in communicating with their respective audiences to drive home the importance of adopting the appropriate protocol to deliver a safe and legally compliant gate.
Gate Safe founder Richard Jackson says: “Although we are proud of a number of important achievements, which includes the origination of the very first accredited training course specifically designed to provide guidance on the safety requirements for an automated gate, we are certainly not resting on our laurels and believe that there is still much to be done to prevent any further accidents or fatalities occurring. Whilst we are not suggesting that planning permission is the only route to achieving this, we do believe that the introduction of a more formal procedure for anyone wanting to install a powered gate will go some way to reducing the number of illegal and unsafe gates fitted by what can only be termed ‘cowboy’ installers. We will be working with our Patron, Madeleine Moon MP to see how best we can leverage support for this petition. In the meantime, we are hopeful that with the continued support of our supporters as well as the introduction of our user friendly Safe Gate interactive tool, we can use the fifth anniversary milestone as a means to reignite public / media interest in the importance of automated gate safety.”
Anyone interested in lending their support to the Gate Safe petition can do so by clicking on the following link: https://goo.gl/9HCfVd.
Gate Safe’s official supporters are:
Electrical Safety Council; Electrical Contractors’ Association; Safety Assessment Federation; RoSPA; School SafetyMARK; Secured by Design; Trade Skills 4 U (no1 provider of electrical qualifications); International Institute of Risk and Safety Management; Risk UK (security and fire management publication) and ECS (Electrotechnical Certification Scheme) and Institution Occupational Safety and Health.
Gate Safe has launched an online petition recommending that the installation of new automated gates should be subject to planning permission. The petition is supported by Madeleine Moon, MP Bridgend, the town where Karolina Golabek resided before she lost her life in an automated gate accident in July 2010.
The move is intended as a means of regulating the installation of these devices to mitigate against the risk of any further powered gate related accidents or fatalities.
Building regulations approval is required for far more minor home / property improvements such as cavity wall insulation, minor electrical work or replacing a boiler. In addition planning permission is required for new gates and fencing over 1m high at the front of a property. It therefore seems illogical that a more formal procedure is not required for anyone wanting to install an electric gate, which is technically a machine capable of inflicting serious injuries and even death if the correct safety protocol is not followed.
The terms of the planning permission would require that the gate be installed by an appropriately trained professional. Gates which don’t have the requisite planning permission, and which may have been installed by the ‘cowboy’ installer would simply become illegal. As such, the local planning office would be within their rights to insist upon the installation being removed – as per existing planning permission protocol.
Madeleine Moon says: “If we are to ensure that all electronic gates are installed and maintained to the high standard set by Gate Safe, so that further tragic deaths can be avoided, then the planning route is the only one possible. I fully support this call and hope that together we can avoid further needless deaths.”
