Door Industry Journal - Winter 2020

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 18 THE door industry journal winter 2020 Industry News New Trading Standards Assured Advice on Powered Garage Door Safety For many years, dhf (Door & Hardware Federation) has been advising the garage door industry on legislation and standards for garage door compliance and safety. A key part of the safety and compliance message, relating to the use of ‘hold-to-run’ by remote control, has proved to be controversial, with some manufacturers and installation companies choosing to interpret the requirements in different ways. Having referred the matter to its Primary Authority partner, Nottinghamshire County Council Trading Standards, dhf has now received ‘assured advice’ for manufacturers and installation companies in regard to the supply of garage doors, thereby giving the industry a clear, detailed and officially sanctioned interpretation of the legal position. The applicable British and European standard, BS EN 12453, allows three ways of preventing a closing door from injuring a person: 1. Firstly, all contact can be prevented by using technology (such as laser scanners or light grids) to detect an obstruction in the door’s path and enable the door to stop and reverse before contact is made. This is not achievable with a single low-level beam, as the requirement is that the system in use prevents all possible contact with hazardous movement. A single low-level beam is simply too easy to stand astride or lean over. Doors fully protected by light grid or laser scanner technology can be operated by impulse activation remote controls either in sight, or out of sight of the door. 2. Secondly, doors can be made pressure-sensitive by equipping them with a ‘sensitive edge’, or by using a ‘sensitive drive system’ which detects contact with obstacles; in either case, the door stops automatically, reversing as soon as contact with an obstacle is made. This is the most common solution used on compliant doors systems. Doors equipped with force limitation will need the addition of a low-level ‘supplementary’ beam if they operate automatically or where untrained persons might be affected by the closing door, for example, where it closes directly onto the public highway, footpath or other public access area. As with option one above, these doors can be operated by impulse activation remote controls either in sight, or out of sight of the door. 3. Thirdly, the user operates the door using a ‘hold to run’ via a control located close to, and in sight of, the door. The user must maintain constant pressure on the switch to operate the door; releasing the switch will immediately stop the door in the event of danger. However, the ‘hold-to-run’ control device in use must be designed such that it is only possible to operate it in direct sight of the door. In the past, the third option has often been misunderstood and ‘hold-to-run’ control that could be operated out of sight of the door has been supplied in some cases. The ‘assured advice’ from Trading Standards provides clarity on this point, stating that relying on such a control system to provide safety by ‘hold-to-run’ is contrary to the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 and the Construction Products Regulations 2013. Provided that manufacturers and installation companies follow the advice correctly, they can be assured that local trading standards officers will have to take account of the advice and not seek to apply the law in a different way. It is also clear from the advice that some existing interpretations do not comply with the law. Local authority trading standards departments are responsible for the enforcement of the Construction Products Regulations and also share responsibility for enforcing the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations where machinery for domestic use is concerned. We hope that this new assured advice from our Primary Authority partner will remove all possible doubt as to the true legal position and, thereby, make a significant contribution to safety and non-compliance in the UK garage door market. Nick Perkins dhf Senior Training & Compliance Officer