Door Industry Journal - Spring 2019

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 104 THE door industry journal spring 2019 Automated Gates & Barriers Continuing the campaign for gate safety: dhf remains a fierce advocate for higher industry standards… Continuing the call for gate safety: dhf (Door & Hardware Federation) continues to work diligently and committedly to raise industry standards across the sectors it serves, and attends the needs of its, now, more than 450 members. It represents all key players in automated gates & traffic barriers, industrial, commercial and garage doors, as well as the leading UK manufacturers and suppliers of building hardware, locks and architectural ironmongery, and is very much recognised as a single source for technical expertise, information, knowledge, advice, and practical help. The Automated Gate Group is one of dhf ’s most proactive. Set up in 2011 following the tragic death of two young children in 2010 in the same week in separate accidents involving unsafe, automated gates, it continues to promote greater levels of safety. The Group represents the UK’s leading manufacturers, suppliers, installers and maintainers of automated gates, traffic barriers and gate automation equipment. Five years ago, it was estimated more than 70% of the 500,000 automated gates in service in the UK were deemed not to be as safe as the applicable legislation requires. dhf holds records of some 16 deaths and a further 10 serious injury incidents involving doors, gates and barriers in recent years that have led to prosecutions of owners, installers and maintainers. It is a fact that with so many systems in service below the required level of safety, a vulnerable person will encounter a system that could do serious harm every day of the week. Luckily, in most cases, a hazardous incident is avoided because, in general, people naturally avoid moving objects in their path, but when it does go wrong, the consequences can be devastating. Machinery safety legislation does not allow reliance on chance for safety; it demands that protection is provided, particularly where un-trained, young or otherwise unaware people might be affected. Reliance on chance in this environment is not only illegal for owners and service providers, but also leaves innocent people at unnecessary risk of injury - or worse. Considerable progress has been made in recent years however, such as the launch of dhf TS 011:2016 – Code of Practice for the Design, Manufacture, Installation and Maintenance of Automated Gates Traffic Barriers. The code (updated in 2018) was designed to guide industry stakeholders through the myriad of regulations and standards necessary to achieve both safety for users and legal compliance for installers and owners. This evolved in response to HSE’s (Health and Safety Executive) objection to the current standards, as dhf ’s Senior Compliance & Training Officer, Nick Perkins, explains: “In July 2015, the European Commission upheld HSE’s long standing formal objection to the current standards and withdrew their harmonisation status with the Machinery Directive which left the industry without a standard they could rely on for legal compliance,” he says. “So, in 2016, dhf issued TS 011 to assist the industry with this dilemma and address the known deficiencies with the current standards. It also offered users practical and concise guidance on achieving legal compliance in an easy-to-access and quotable medium. Since 2015, CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) has been working on a revision of the standards and as a result, at the latter part of 2018, revised versions of the standards (BS EN 12453:2017 & 12604:2017) were published in the UK. Unfortunately, however, despite offering some improvements, these still did not achieve harmonisation and hence, legal compliance status. “Both dhf TS 011 and dhf TS 012:2018 (the equivalent for Industrial & Garage Doors) are currently being reviewed to reflect the new standards, but we will continue to warn our members about shortcomings in the current standards,” explains Nick. “ dhf continues to recommend the use of TS 011:2018.” Automated gate risk assessment: Machinery safety legislation relies heavily on risk assessment for compliance, but this subject is too often not carried out correctly, with far too much weight placed on the likelihood of occurrence, as opposed to the degree of harm potential. One of the gates that killed a child in 2010 had been in service in a dangerous condition for nine years. Where vulnerable populations may be affected, the emphasis must be on degree of harm. Where a hazard can be readily controlled by application of a readily-available control measure, the absolute minimum level of safety acceptable in law is set by the measures described in product specific standards. Machinery safety legislation describes this level of safety as ‘state-of-the art’ and in this way, a chainsaw is required to be as safe as a chainsaw standard, an electric drill is required to be as safe as drill standards and powered gates, door and barriers are required to be as safe as their applicable standards. Even then, as discussed previously in this article, this still may not always be enough where harmonisation of the relevant standard is not achieved. How to spot an unsafe gate: dhf ’s Senior Compliance & Training Officer, Nick Perkins