New safety advice issued on electric gates

  • 30 October 2015
  • The Gate Man

Gate installers, designers and maintanance providers are being asked to consider recent safety advice issued by HSE's director of Field Operations.

The safety alert asks installers to fit extra safeguards in addition to limiting the closing forces of electric gates.

These are the things your installer needs to do if they are installing or modifying electrically powered gates at your property.

  • Your installer should use the right test equipment to measure closing/opening forces. If they do not have this equipment, they can't be sure that the gates meet safety standards, and should not install them.
  • When they are opening and closing, the force of the gates should be limited to those in the British/European standards. The gates should also reverse if they hit someone or something.
  • The gates should have sensors that can stop them if someone has been detected. This could be light beams (photoelectric devices), which stop the gates before they reach an obstacle.
  • If there are parts of the gates where someone could become trapped or get crushed while it is moving, these need be protected. People could get injured, for example, as the bars of the gates pass the gate post.
  • The gates must have an emergency release mechanism in case someone gets trapped.

When your gates have been installed safely - and met all of the relevant safety requirements - the installer should apply a CE Mark, so you can be confident the job has been done properly. The installer must also keep details of the installation, and of any tests, in a technical file.

For further information visit the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/electricgates2.htm