Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 92 THE door industry journal winter 2022 Automated Gates & Barriers The Seven Deadly Sins of Automated Gates dhf has compiled the following article, covering the most pertinent reasons why automated gates can cause injury or death, as well as how to prevent this. ‘The 7 deadly sins of automated gates’, authored by dhf’s Senior Training & Compliance Officer, Nick Perkins, aims to create greater awareness and to educate the public and the industry on the dangers of poor installation and maintenance, as well as how to spot an unsafe gate. Central to safety and legal compliance is the European gate safety standard, EN 12453, first published in 2000. Under this standard, the following deadly sins should not occur and are not permitted. The first deadly sin is defective sliding gate travel stops. As Nick explains: “Sliding gates coming out of their runners and falling on a person is by far the most common cause of automated gate death, injury, and prosecution. This should never happen. It is a requirement of machinery safety law that both normal use and foreseeable misuse must be catered for. Most incidents of this nature occur when the gate is being moved manually, often as a result of power failure. A motorist who is being delayed by a failed gate may well exert considerable force to move it, so travel stops need to be very substantial and resilient enough to cope. The gate should be constructed so that derailment and falling over are prevented.” For further information, see section 2.1.2 of DHF TS 0131:2021 Part 1: On-site guide. Nick cites the second deadly sin to be hinge failure. The gate must be constructed to prevent falling over in the case of a failed suspension component; several deaths and injuries have been caused in this way. Nick explains that: “In 2017, these rules were relaxed to allow the use of a safety lanyard. Today, a limited amount of movement from vertical is permitted (up to 300mm) if a hinge fails. Possible solutions include triple hinge, dual hinge and lanyard, or super reinforced hinges that can prevent falling over by themselves if one of them fails.” For further information, see sections 2.1.3 & 2.1.4 of DHF TS 013-1:2021 Part 1: Onsite guide. Draw-in at sliding gates is number three. This is the hazard that occurs when a sliding gate passes a fixed object such as its support frame, wall, or other fixed objects. Again, serious injuries have been caused in this way. “It should not be possible for a person to be drawn in by a moving gate”, says Nick. “Where a sliding gate is constructed with open bars rather than being fully-filled or boarded over, any draw-in hazard will also be accompanied by a shearing (guillotine) hazard between the uprights in the gate and nearby fixed structures.” These hazards must be prevented by an enclosure fence or screen in the run-back area, the provision of safe edges close to the moving gate surface, or by the provision of full-height optical safety devices such as light curtains or laser scanners.For further information, see section 4.5 of DHF TS 013-1:2021 Part 1: On-site guide. Reducing hinge gaps is Nick’s fourth deadly sin. Injuries, deaths, and prosecutions have resulted from reducing gaps at the hinges of automated gates. Nick explains: “Reducing hinge gaps must be prevented by safe design (avoidance of reducing gaps), flexible guards, safe edges, or optical safety devices.” For further information, see section 4.4 of DHF TS 013-1:2021 Part 1: On-site guide. An excessive closing force is sin number five. “EN 12453 provides three main methods for protecting the main closing edge of a powered gate: hold-to-run, force limitation or non-contact presence detection. “Force limitation is the most commonly used method; it limits the amount of force that can be exerted on a person to safer limits,” Nick continues. “In horizontally reducing gaps of 500mm or less, and all vertically reducing gaps below 2.5metres, the maximum permitted force is 400N (40kg dead weight), whilst in horizontally reducing gaps greater than 500mm, it is 1400N (140kg dead weight). Below 500mm, a person can be crushed between the moving gate and something else, whilst in larger open spaces a person can be pushed along but is free to escape. In all cases, force must be back down to 150N (15kg) within three-quarters of a second and 25N (2.5kg) within five seconds; almost invariably, the gate or barrier will need to reverse to achieve this. Both force and reversal time must be accurately controlled to achieve safety and compliance.” Force limitation can be achieved by safe edges (rubber contact strips) that work by sending a signal to the control unit when they touch a person or inherent force limitation provided by a sensitive drive unit. “Used correctly and appropriately, both are perfectly viable This gate fell when it came out of its runners whilst being used manually killing the owner, the company was prosecuted and their employee was jailed as a result A child with its head trapped in a reducing hinge gap, the installation company was prosecuted as a result A person being drawn into the space between a moving gate and its support frame Example of a failing hinge
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