As the national safety campaign which was set up in the wake of the tragic deaths of two children last year in separate automated gate accidents, Gate Safe has always championed the need for a concerted programme of activity which targets representatives from a cross-section of companies/organisations with the aim of initiating a 3600 awareness and education programme for everyone involved in an automatic gate installation.
‘Everyone’ encompasses the specifier, manufacturer/constructor, contractor and, ultimately, the installer.
By joining forces with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) – Europe’s leading body for individuals with a professional involvement in occupational safety and health – it’s hoped that the issue of automated gates will move higher up the safety agenda and in particular, will achieve broader recognition from the architect, construction and surveyor business community.
There’s an overriding desire to promote automated gate issues among safety officers and professionals involved in the installation process.
Gate Safe and IOSH will be joining forces at a number of industry networking events with the aim of educating a cross-section of professionals on Best Practice in relation to a safe automated gate installation.
Gate Safe has already developed a comprehensive CPD outline which will form the basis of all presentations and is available as a download from the Gate Safe website.
At present, Gate Safe will be attending the following events (with further activities planned for later in the year):
Gate Safe has already achieved significant success in working to raise awareness of the need to improve standards in gate automation. The campaign has been commended by the Health and Safety Executive for its efforts to date, which include (as reported on SMT Online) the hosting of the first-ever Gate Safety Summit, taking a petition to Downing Street, undertaking surveys to underpin the high level of risk of an automated gate accident reoccurring, launching the comprehensive Gate Safe web site and undertaking a focused PR campaign.
Gate Safe will continue to support the excellent work of the Door and Hardware Federation which has taken responsibility for the development of technical guidelines in relation to the installation of automated gates.
Calls for “urgent review” of UK’s automated gates
Gate Safe is also calling for urgent action following yet another incident relating to a child whose head became trapped in electric gates towards the end of last month.
The accident happened on a residential housing development in Gorton, near Manchester and involved a seven-year-old girl who narrowly escaped serious injury following the activation of an electric gate as she tried to squeeze through a gap between the gates and post.
The girl was cut free by fire crew and thankfully suffered no major injuries. However, the accident is a sharp reminder of the tragic deaths of two children last year, in two separate automated gate incidents, and the real threat of another fatality occurring if unsafe automatic gate installations remain in service.
Commenting on the incident, Richard Jackson, CEO of Jacksons Fencing (the company behind the inception of the Gate Safe campaign) said: “We are urging all professionals involved in the automatic gate installation and gate maintenance process – from specifiers through to installers – to ensure that any gate automation project they are involved in meets with the safety criteria listed on the Gate Safe website.”
Jackson continued: “It would appear from the initial reports surrounding this accident that, once again, a child has been unnecessarily subjected to a terrifying ordeal which could so easily have been prevented if the gate had been checked to confirm compliance with current good safety practice.”
Gate Safe recommends that an electric gate features the necessary safety devices to protect the user and other pedestrians from any potential trap points and that no unprotected gaps under the fence or gate can exceed 100 mm, while any vertical pales must also have no gaps exceeding more than 100 mm.
“It would appear that, in this instance, these precautions had not been observed,” said Jackson. “In addition, had the gate featured the correct safety mechanisms as advised by Gate Safe and the HSE, the gate automation would have gone into reversion, thus instantly freeing the child.”
Sadly, this case brings the total number of reported automated gate accidents to six, proving the validity of Gate Safe’s repeated warnings advising of the impending danger associated with the worrying number of unsafe electric gates in the UK.
Gate Safe will continue to lobby for the enhanced safety of all automated gate installations while also pushing for an increased awareness of the need to embrace ongoing maintenance programmes to encourage continued compliance.
In addition, the campaign is striving for action to be taken to trigger the policing of gates which were installed prior to the existing guidelines coming into force.
For further news relating to Gate Safe visit the website (a dedicated link is provided at the foot of this article)
