Technical information

DOORKING SYSTEMS access control solutions
GATE OPERATOR SAFETY AND ENTRAPMENT PROTECTION
Compromising on gate and gate operator
safety can have tragic results. By Rick
Sedivy (excerpt from article dated Dec,
1996)
ACCESS CONTROL SOLUTIONS . . . 4 Preventative Maintenance Guide
A few years ago, in Illinois, a six
year old child was pinned by a slide
gate at an apartment complex and
was suffocated.
According to the police, the
accidentoccurred when a resident
activated the gate to open with a
remore control device. As the gate
began to run open, two children
jumped on the gate. The resident
screamed fo the children to get off.
One child jumped off, but the
other was pinned between the gate
and the fence post. A police officer
stated that the gate had a safety
device, but it only worked during
the closing cycle.
In California, a young girl was
going to a friends house to baby sit.
She reached thgough the gate to
activate a switch on the inside.
When the gate started, she was
pulled into the gate pocket and
suffocated.
In Houston, an adult male reached
through a gate to activate a digital
keypad. His employer conveniently
had a hole cut through the gate just
so his employees could do this if
they were on the outside of the
gate. When the gentleman entered
the digital code, the gate started and
pulled him into the gate pocket.
The gentleman died of
asphyxiation.
The incidents described here
(unfortunately, there are more)
disprove many outdated schools of
thought regarding gates and gate
operator safety. To begin,
automated gates are just as
dangerous, and in fact maybe more
dangerous because fo entrapment
possibilities, in the opening cycle as
they are in the closing cycle. For
years, manufacturers and installers
addressed only safety concerns
when the gate was in the closing
cycle. Reversing edges are often
installed on the leading edge of a
slide gate, giving everyone a false
sense of safety, and many
manufacturers made no provisions
what so ever to sense gate
obstructions int eh opening cycle.
The fact is people are being injured
and killed by slide gates running in
the OPEN direction.
Gate Operating systems can be
made safe, but achieving this safety
requires the cooperation of the
manufacturer, the installer and
theEnd User!.
GATE WARNING SIGNS
Gate Warning Signs are
included with all DoorKing
vehicular gate operators. This
sign is a requirement for
compliance with the UL 325
Standard for Gate Safety. The
sign must be posted so that
people approaching the gate,
from inside or outside, can
clearly view and read the sign.
Moving Gate Can
Cause Serious
Injury or Death
WARNING
PEDESTRIAN GATES ARE IMPORTANT
One of the hazards of automated vehicular gates is that
everyone seems to want to use the vehicular gate and
traffic lane as a pedestrian walk way. This creates two
hazards. First, pedestrians are in the traffic lane
competing with vehicles. Second, automated gate
operators are not designed for use in pedestrian traffic
applications.
DoorKing does not manufacture any operator designed
for pedestrian traffic control and our operators must
never be used in this type of application. There are
companies that design products specifically for this type
of use
A requirement for comliance with the UL 325 Standard
for Gate Safety, a separate pedestrian entrance must be
provided whenever a Vehicular Gate is Automated. This
must be separate from the traffic lane and provide entry
for pedestrian traffic without utilizing the Vehicular
Gates.