Garage doors are large, heavy structures at the best of times, but commercial garage doors are even bulkier and heavier, and have the potential to cause significant injury if left faulty or damaged.
As an employer or commercial site manager, keeping your commercial garage doors operating safely and efficiently should always be a priority, and with steep penalties in place for workplace safety violations, it’s not just your employees and customers that need protecting.
Having your commercial garage doors correctly installed by professionals in the first instance, is one way of reducing the risk of malfunction, but having them regularly serviced, maintained and repaired, is by far the best action you can take to prevent serious injury from being caused to anyone, or anything.
Here are a few key points to ensure the safe operation of your commercial garage doors:
At the point of purchase, choose doors designed for safety
To give yourself the very best chance of minimizing faults and keeping your employees safe, invest in commercial garage doors that have been specifically designed to prevent hazards. These will ensure that you’re compliant with overhead door regulations and the latest industry standards for safe operation.
If you already have your doors in place, you can always upgrade to a higher standard; yes, it will cost you more money initially, but it could save you a whole lot of expense and stress in the future.
Note these safety precautions
Note that the operating controls for your commercial garage doors should be in an area that prevents employees from incurring any harm should the doors malfunction. Ideally, the doors should also have sensor switches on the door drive motor; these will cause the door to reverse direction automatically if any kind of resistance or obstruction is detected.
Have regular inspections carried out by a garage door technician
Scheduling regular inspections of your commercial garage doors can be crucial in preventing malfunctions from occurring, and reducing the cost of repairs that if left, will only get worse. Just as with any kind of equipment and machinery, commercial garage doors are comprised of a number of small parts – ranging from sensors and springs to support rails and opener systems – any one of which can cause accidents and injury if defective and left undetected, and unrepaired.
Regular services and maintenance checks by a qualified technician will keep your doors in their best possible condition, for longer.
Instigate repairs immediately
Any faulty or damaged elements of a commercial garage door, should be repaired professionally as soon as they’re spotted, not only for safety reasons, but to prevent even costlier repairs further down the line.
Train employees to use the doors correctly
All employees should be trained how to use the commercial garage doors correctly, which must include an overview of any potential hazards. If you’re having new doors fitted, then the company supplying them should advise you of any basic safety tips, which you can then relay to employees. As well as this, there should be a set of written operating guidelines that all employees can readily access.
Commercial garage doors are an investment, and as such, they deserve to be protected and kept running smoothly and safely, for as long as possible. To achieve this, only ever buy your garage doors from a reputable supplier, have them installed by a professional company, and schedule regular services to guarantee both their longevity, and safety.
