Safety Brakes and Door Safety
CE Marking for new doors has been compulsory in the UK for some time now and, safety brakes are an integral part of vertically moving doors.
In the event of a motor brake failing or a cable snapping, Safety brakes stop vertical doors from falling. However, there is a bit of a grey area, as some Sectional Overhead Door manufacturers overcome the need for brakes by using thicker cables.
From our professional experience, we do not think this is an adequate substitute. Cables can fray and snap for all manner of reasons. Until recently, we decided for the safety of our customers we would advise changing cables on doors without safety brakes every two years. However, we recently came across a frayed one, which was only 12 months old. This safety issue caused us so much concern; that we have decided to update our guidelines to cable change every year.
We Always Put Safety First
When visiting a customer for the first time and coming across a sectional door with no safety brake installed, we will not know how long the cables have been on the door or if they remain strong enough to stop the door from dropping.
To be confident a door is sufficiently safe to use; we have decided to follow the procedure below:
- New Customer - If a Sectional Door has no brake, and there IS space to install one, we will place an “Advisory” on the door and provide a brake installation quotation.
- New Customer – If a Sectional Door has no brake, and there IS NOT space to install one, we will place an “Advisory” on the door and provide a cable replacement quotation.
We advise all customers with cableless Sectional Doors to have them inspected for wear and tear every six months and the cables changed every year (regardless of condition).
Roller Shutter Doors are dealt with differently. Shutter Doors do not have cables. Sometimes a manual roller shutter will have twin springs in the barrel, which means if one spring brakes, the second spring should still hold the door. However, suppose we discover a manual shutter without a safety brake and with only one spring or an electrically operated shutter without a brake, we will have to place a safety warning on the door. If there is sufficient room to do so, we will quote to retrofit a brake; or if there is not enough room for a brake, we will quote to replace the door entirely.
This last point may not be what the customer wants to hear, but safety will always be our priority at the end of the day.
Need further clarification on this or another safety matter?
Contact us