JUNE is Garage Door Safety Month
A garage door is often the largest, heaviest moving object in your home and is typically used every day. Over time, parts can wear out and break, creating potential hazards. An improperly adjusted garage door or automatic opener can exert deadly force when the door closes. This could lead to serious injury or death from being hit or trapped by a closing garage door, as evidenced by the following tragedies. J
ohn and Karin Fields had lived in their Holland, Michigan, home for five years, never once questioning the safety of their garage door and electric operator. The previous owners never mentioned any maintenance issues or told them about any repairs. There were no warning labels on the door, operator or hardware. The manuals were long gone. There was no way they could predict a malfunctioning garage door operator would take the life of their only child, 5-year-old David. It was 1987, before the federal government mandated photo eyes on all new operators and long before microprocessors began guiding them. Although operators have come a long way in the more than 20 years since David Field’s death, tragedies have continued to occur and some close to home. In 1993 in Salem, Wisconsin, a 3-year-old girl died when she was crushed by an automatic garage door and a 4-year-girl old died in La Crosse after being pinned under a closing garage door. Six year old Daniel Dodge of Whitefish Bay died from massive chest injuries in 1997 after being found pinned under the door by his 10-year-old sister. In 2004, a 4-year-old boy in Cañon City, Colorado died just hours after being trapped under a garage door. Ashley McAuley, a 5-year-old South Fayette, Pennsylvania, girl was seriously injured when she was struck while trying to crawl under the door as it closed. She is unable to walk or talk, and has no movement in her arms or legs. And just last month, 6-year-old Dijion Sanders of Chicago died after being trapped under his uncle’s garage door.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) requires that all garage door operators manufactured or imported after January 1, 1993, for sale in the United States be outfitted with an external entrapment protection system. This system can be an electric eye, a door edge sensor, or any other device that provides equivalent protection. All homeowners should disconnect all garage door openers that have not been certified as meeting the requirements of the ANSI/UL standard 325-1982.The standard calls for a number of safety features not found on earlier openers, and also subjects new openers to more stringent tests. C
PSC cautions consumers that not all devices that open and close the garage door are necessarily safe. Some old openers are equipped with a mechanism that only stops the closing door when it strikes an object, not reversing the door in the process. Other pre-1982 openers have a device intended to reverse the closing door when it strikes an object, but for reasons related to age, installation and maintenance, these products may not be safe enough to prevent entrapment of a child. These openers cannot be adjusted or repaired to provide the automatic reversing feature found on later devices. Operating these openers could lead to serious injury or death.
Since March of 1982 there have been over 100 deaths and injuries to children under the age of 15, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Joe Wilde Company is committed to doing their part to end these tragedies and in recognition of GARAGE DOOR SAFETY MONTH, is offering a 10 POINT SAFETY INSPECTION for only $69.00. This inspection was developed by DASMA (Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association) and covers the operation of both the garage door and opener. Inspection includes a FREE safety guide and poster and is performed by a Joe Wilde Company experienced garage door technician.
In addition, Joe Wilde Company is sponsoring a Garage Door Safety Coloring Contest for children ages 3 through 12 with prizes of Toys R Us gift cards. Details and entry forms are available in person at 16601 W. Cleveland Avenue in New Berlin or on Joe Wilde Company’s website at www.joewilde.com.
Joe Wilde Company, in business since 1945, is a leading provider of garage door sales, installation and service to both residential and commercial customers. Information in this article taken from Consumer Product Safety Commission Document #523 which can be found at http://www.cpsc.gove/cpscpub/pubs/523.html
