Door Industry Journal - Winter 2015

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Verdict on Door and Gate Operators eliminates Legal Uncertainty SOMMER operators guarantee for safe operation of doors and gates in compliance with applicable standards. According to two recent court rulings all manufacturers of operators have to make sure that operators and doors/gates can be used safely. SOMMER Door & Gate Automation UK Ltd. from their headquarters in Germany has fulfilled all requirements of the verdicts, which result from the relevant standard EN 12453, since its introduction in 2001. SOMMER have been certifying their operators with almost all of the industry’s most widely used doors for a long time and operates their own test centre in Kirchheim, Germany. Using this test centre, door and operator combinations are certified by a notified body. This guarantees for a safe operation of doors and gates in compliance with all applicable standards, no matter if the operator was bought with the door or as a single item. In the past when operators and doors were bought and installed separately the full legal responsibility rested on the installing company or - for DIY - on the home owner. The rulings of high courts in Hamburg and Frankfurt put an end to this unpleasant situation with the following verdicts. • All operators which are suitable for operating garage doors must also comply with the relevant door standards. • The force limits have to be adhered to for all door types for which the operator has been approved for by the operator manufacturer. • Additionally, safety has to be assured for “reasonably foreseeable abuse”. Some manufacturers, who sell operators without a door, have sought refuge in saying that system tests of door and operator could be ignored if the operator is sold on its own. In such cases responsibility rested solely on the installer of the operator, meaning the garage door fitter or the legally ignorant end-consumer. The rulings mentioned above have removed this refuge area for substandard manufacturers. The SOMMER strategy of continuous certification has proven successful. The operator specialist sees their strategy reconfirmed by the verdict. “For us nothing changed with the verdict”, Gerd Schaaf, CEO of the SOMMER group, explains. “We have consistently adhered to the relevant standards, like EN 12453, since they came into force in 2001, and we invested a lot in certifying our operators with almost all available doors in the market”. For these certifications SOMMER employs one person full time. The tests are conducted with notified bodies, mainly TÜV, IFT and SP. SOMMER also operates a test centre, which is used by customers of the company as well. Customers of SOMMER can for example have their own doors certified with respect to environmental properties, enabling them to supply a declaration of performance with their doors. According to Gerd Schaaf this service is very well received and often made use of. Well over 2,000 Door and Operator Combinations already certified “With well over 2,000 certified door and operator combinations we cover most of the door products used by our customers and partners.” Schaaf remarks, “To make use of our testing facility where you can test your door and operator combinations as well as environmental properties please contact your SOMMER sales manager” For a full list of certifications please visit our website or click one of the links below: Short link - http://goo.gl/Eduy6X Full link - http://www.sommer.eu/tl_files/sommer/Service/Download- Bereich/Tore_und_Antriebe/Referenzliste_Torantriebe.pdf 58 THE door industry journal winter 2015 garage doors