RoSPA and British Safety Council back Gate Safety Week

The growing campaign to confine powered gate accidents to the history books has received a significant boost with the UK’s leading safety charities coming on board. Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and British Safety Council have put their weight behind Gate Safety Week. They are amongst a number of influential groups in the security, enforcement, inspection, education and safety sectors who are lending their support to Gate Safety Week (October 12 – 18 www.gatesafetyweek.org.uk).

The campaign is being organised by the Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) Powered Gate Group in a bid to dramatically improve the safety of automated gates in the UK. The DHF Powered Gate Group comprises Britain’s leading manufacturers, suppliers, installers and maintainers of powered gates and gate automation equipment.

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 has been at the heart of accident prevention in the UK and around the world for almost 100 years. 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 promotes the importance of health and safety and campaigns for sensible legislation and regulation. Its 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.

There is comprehensive guidance for safety professionals, gate owners and those responsible for specifying, managing and maintaining automatic gates on the Gate Safety Week website (www.gatesafetyweek.org.uk). This includes information on safety legislation and a detailed rundown of the safety features to look for on a powered gate.

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