Door Industry Journal - Spring 2016

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk THE door industry journal spring 2016 industry news feature 6 Making Modifications to Existing Powered Garage Doors In our December issue we covered the duties of installers when installing a new powered garage door. Now in this second educational, we talk about what to consider when making modifications to existing doors or because the same legislation applies, powered gates as well. Modifying an existing door When undertaking a modification to an existing door, the most important piece of UK legislation applicable is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 . The primary implication of the act is that any work undertaken on a door it must be safe for anyone who might be affected by it, both during the work and also once it is complete. This means that all modification work must be risk assessed. This article will focus on hazards associated with the finished door rather than the work process on site, which must of course also be safe for all concerned. Responsibility for safety and legal compliance lies with the company executing the work. The process of risk assessing the proposed modification must identify all possible hazards associated with the existing door and arising from the proposed modification; these hazards must then be listed, eliminated by safe design or controlled by reasonable and practicable means. Any remaining minor residual hazards must be identified and communicated to the user together with instructions for planned preventative maintenance (PPM) to enable the user to keep the door in a safe and serviceable condition in the future. This process can be split into seven steps and should be documented stage by stage: 1. Describe the limits of the door (Type, size, nature of users, environment and method of control etc.) 2. Identify all potential hazards, including those arising from foreseeable misuse (Structural, electrical and moving parts) 3. Apply or check that safe design eliminates as many hazards as possible (The hazard is eliminated or is not accessible) 4. Control/check all remaining hazards by applying control measures (Safety brakes, safe edges light curtains etc.) 5. Identify any remaining minor residual hazards 6. Compile user instructions that include warnings of residual hazards 7. Produce PPM instructions that will keep the door in a safe condition “Reasonable and practicable” measures to eliminate or control hazards will mean attaining the current state of the art, essentially by following the guidance in published product specific standards. These will include EN 12604 for structural elements, EN 12453 for safety of powered doors, BS 7671 for any electrical supply and EN 60204-1 for associated wiring. Major modifications One major modification common in our industry is installing an electric operator to an existing manual door. In the eyes of the law powering an existing manual door creates a new machine and hence requires compliance with the Machinery Directive . The directive requires a risk assessment process, just as described above, to identify all possible hazards but it also has to identify which of the Directive’s Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) will apply and how they are to be met. The directive requires that a Declaration of Conformity is issued and that a CE mark is applied. The entire process leading up to compliance with the directive must be recorded in a technical file.