Electric garage door safety and legislation

A garage door is usually the largest and heaviest moving part of any home and as with any large moving object there are a number of potential risks and hazards associated with it. Safety legislation and garage door technology has, however, come a long way in recent years and most of the risks have been effectively minimised.

All automatic garage doors systems sold today have to be fully compliant with legislation that ensures that the products meet a number of safety and performance factors. Safety devices such as anti-drop mechanisms and obstruction detection systems are just some of the features that need to be an integral part of the product.

BS EN 13241

These pieces of legislation both relate to the European harmonised product standard BS EN 13241-1:2003 which specifies all the safety requirements that an automation system must meet before it can be available in the UK. All automatic garage doors must be CE marked (https://www.gov.uk/ce-marking) to show that the manufacturer has checked that their products meet all these safety standards.

Installation

The installer must ensure that the automatic garage door is fully compliant with all the legislation before it is brought into service. They can then complete a ‘Declaration of Incorporation’ and a ‘Declaration of Conformity’ document. The installer then provides the user with a copy of these documents and keeps a copy of on record.

What to look out for

Here at ABi we only sell genuine products direct from the manufacturer which meet or exceed all the legislation and safety requirements. All our automation systems come with a minimum warranty of 5 years and our teams of engineers are fully trained experts in their field. For more information on current safety legislation and automation systems why not pop into our showroom or contact a member of our dedicated and friendly sales team.