Door Industry Journal - Spring 2017

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 54 THE door industry journal spring 2017 garage doors feature Are You Struggling with CPR and Supply of Machinery Directives? SOMMER and DOCO can help you. In this featured article Theuns Liebenberg, Technical Sales Manager at SOMMER Door & Gate Automation UK, attempts to cut through the rumours and misinformation about the regulations governing the installation of powered garage doors and operators from different manufacturers. If anyone in the industry has recently told you it’s illegal to mix and match doors and operators from different suppliers, you should read this! Because, all is not as it seems. Let me explain: As you are no doubt aware, we are all trying to raise standards within our industry, thereby giving good honest companies the commercial edge over bad products and irresponsible installers/ manufacturers. The Door and Hardware Federation (DHF) has been promoting the need for safe powered doors and powered gates for several years now. Part of this process promotes the fact that doors and operators, when brought together, are technically one machine that needs to be certified as safe before use. All clear so far? Educating the proud and knowledgeable door and gate installing community of Great Britain about their responsibilities began in earnest, 2 years ago at the Birmingham NEC, where numerous installing companies and manufacturers came together to learn more. This was the real starting point for raising standards on the ground. Everyone who attended was informed about what is expected of them and what options are available. Even if you didn’t attend the event, you probably read all about it in this magazine. Part of this education process was to underline that, due to CPR and Supply of Machinery directives, installing powered garage doors and operators from different manufacturers can lead to non- compliance. Far easier, therefore, to use door and operator from the same source, or is it? So, what’s the problem? Firstly - none of this is new! The Supply of Machinery Regulations have been around since at least 2008, based on the machinery directive which was updated in 2006. In fact, they have been around in some form since 1989! Ever since then, responsible manufacturers in the UK and all over Europe have had to make sure that whatever machine they produce must be safe after correct installation. So, reputable installing companies have always had to ensure they do the required paperwork and risk assessments and install safety equipment when and where needed. And your point is, Theuns? The point is, SOMMER Antriebs-und Funktechnik GmbH have been designing state-of-the-art, safe and reliable garage