43 THE door industry journal winter 2023 Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Industry News Sadly, a finger-crushing accident can lead to permanent disability. Fully functioning hands and fingers are essential to undertaking many everyday tasks. And finger injuries make holding and tying things, eating and typing much more difficult. Along with the challenges faced when experiencing a finger injury, a finger-trapping incident could result in finger amputation, elbow pain, migraines and depression. Anna De Leo, a plastic surgeon and BAPRAS spokesperson, says even a fingertip injury can cause a 20% loss of hand strength and impact a person’s life. Reducing the Risk of Finger Injury An increased risk of finger-trapping incidents may occur in the following areas: • High pedestrian traffic areas • Settings that cater for children • Queuing or waiting areas • Changing rooms • Areas that have fire doors • Areas near entrances • Toilets • Cafés • Areas that have heavy doors • Areas where strong draughts can occur • Places where door closers don’t work properly How to Prevent Door Finger-Trapping Accidents Finger amputation and lasting damage to finger bones, joints and tendons can be avoided by assessing risk and considering the following: • Door Closers Ensure all door closers work correctly to prevent handle-side finger accidents. • Finger Protection Guards Reduce the risk of serious hinge-side finger-crushing accidents by fitting finger protection guards to both sides of internal and external doors. Once fitted, they’ll keep fingers safe year after year. As with any potential hazard, it’s essential to reduce risk where possible. Ideally, the person responsible for a building should assess all internal and external doors for potential fingertrapping risks. If your building caters to vulnerable adults or children, it likely warrants the fitting of door finger protection. Finger protection guards are typically recommended for all doors in foundation stage and key stage one corridors, classrooms and toilets. Finger Protection Guards for Fire Doors If your fire doors need finger protection guards, you’ll need to ensure they’re also fire-rated, as any door hardware fitted to a fire door needs to be as fire-rated as the door. To comply with current fire safety regulations, your finger protection guards should have undergone independent third-party testing to standards such as BS EN 1634-1:2014. This European standard ensures your finger protection guards meet the required fire resistance level. How ZEROplus Can Help To help reduce the 30,000 finger-crushing incidents and many nail bed operations carried out on children every year, you need finger protection guards you can trust. At ZEROplus, we’re proud to say our Finprotect Plus range is thoroughly tested to class 2 of BS 8613:2017, meaning our Finprotect Plus finger protection guards successfully prevent fingers from entering the gap between the doors and frame when force is used. Our Finprotect Plus range has also been successfully tested and assessed to BS EN 1634-1:2014, so can be installed on fire-rated doors and provides fire protection regardless of the fire exposure direction. Our fire-rated Finprotect Plus range has an integrity of up to 240 minutes on previously tested steel-based doorsets and an integrity of up to 120 minutes on timber-based doorsets. Finprotect Plus finger protection guards are quick and easy to install. And will continue to provide finger protection and prevent injury year after year. www.zeroplus.co.uk
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