The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and British Safety Council have put their weight behind Gate Safety Week (October 12 – 18th). The campaign is organised by the Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) Powered Gate Group in a bid to improve the safety of automated gates in the UK.
In recent years, three children and three adults have been killed in powered gate accidents. It is estimated there are more than 500,000 automated gates in service in the UK, yet the industry says just 30 per cent of these are safe to use.
RoSPA’s Michael Corley said: “The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents fully supports this year’s Gate Safety Week campaign and wishes the DHF every success in raising public awareness of the dangers associated with poorly fitted and maintained powered gates.”
British Safety Council deputy chief executive Neal Stone said: “As advocates of good health and safety standards, the British Safety Council wholeheartedly supports this year’s Gate Safety Week campaign. We wish the DHF every success.”
Gate Safety Week campaigners are hammering home two key messages:
- Correctly installed and well maintained automated gates are perfectly safe to use;
- All those responsible for automated gates – owners, maintainers, installers – must ensure gates are safe.
