The next Gate Safety Week will be October 12 to 18, says the Door & Hardware Federation Powered Gate Group.
Campaigns and activities during the week, and in the months leading up to the event, will stress how all those responsible for automated gates – owners, maintainers, installers – must ensure the gates are safe to use.
In recent years, three children and three adults have been killed in gate accidents. It is estimated there are more than 500,000 automated gates in service in the UK, yet it is estimated just 30 per cent of these are safe to use.
Neil Sampson is chairman of the DHF Powered Gate Group which represents manufacturers, suppliers, installers and maintainers of powered automatic gates and gate automation equipment. He said:
“Properly installed and maintained gates are perfectly safe to use – but the majority of them still do not comply with current legislation and are potentially dangerous. Up to 70 per cent of automated gates in use could be unsafe. This proportion is thankfully falling as installation standards in the industry continue to rise, due to responsible manufacturers and installers joining our campaign.
“But we’re acutely aware there’s much more work for us to do – hence our decision to hold another Gate Safety Week event this year. The campaign is all about raising awareness of the dangers of using poorly installed and maintained power gates in the hope that we can prevent any further deaths or injuries.
“We are also aware that unsafe installations are still being carried out by uneducated installers and gate companies who are quite willing to take dangerous short cuts in both gate manufacture and installation. This is something that, as an industry, we can no longer tolerate and by informing specifiers, owners and users alike, we will stop this.”
Last year’s Gate Safety Week campaign put the message across to gate owners and those responsible for specifying, managing and maintaining automatic gates.
Members of the 95-strong DHF Powered Gate Group will be partnering with a number of organisations in the safety, enforcement, inspection, education and security sectors, helping spread awareness of the importance of gate safety.
Advice on gate safety, and more details on the campaign, are available from www.gatesafetyweek.org.uk. The Gate Safety Week help line number is 01827 52337.
