The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is the latest safety body to give its backing to a campaign to make unsafe automated gates a thing of the past. The regulators have joined the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), British Safety Industry Federation and British Safety Council behind Gate Safety Week (from October 12 to 18).
The campaign is being organised by the trade body the Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) Powered Gate Group in a bid to improve safety of automated gates in the UK. The DHF Powered Gate Group comprises British manufacturers, suppliers, installers and maintainers of powered gates and gate automation equipment. The DHF reports that in recent years, three children and three adults have been killed in powered gate accidents. It is estimated there are more than 500,000 automated gates in service in the UK, yet the industry says just 30 per cent of these are safe to use.
Karen Clayton, is deputy director of HSE’s Engagement and Strategic Interventions Directorate. She says: “HSE supports Gate Safety Week, DHF and all those involved in ensuring the safety of powered (automatic) gates. Working together, we can reduce the risk of people being hurt by powered gates by designing, manufacturing, installing and maintaining gates which are safe.”
And she urges all those involved with powered gates to read and act on the useful advice provided by HSE: http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/powered-gates/introduction.htm .
Guidance for safety professionals, gate owners and those responsible for specifying, managing and maintaining automatic gates is on the Gate Safety Week website. This includes safety legislation and details of the safety features to look for on a powered gate.
