Schools have a duty of care to pupils and staff. But could one of the devices regularly installed for the security of a school site, in fact pose a safety risk?
Schools naturally require strict access control to safeguard children and prevent unauthorised personnel from gaining entry onto the premises. Hence, automated gates. But nationally, according to Gate Safe, the charity that campaigns for improved standards in automated gates, over two thirds of automated gate installations fail to comply with latest legislation and could pose a serious safety risk. They claim there is a strong chance that the security measures which the school has put in place to protect a child could be responsible for an accident.
Gate Safe is urging schools (and indeed parents) to improve their awareness of the safety risks posed by an automatic gate and to ensure all gates are fitted and maintained by a suitably qualified installer. Schools according to Gate Safe should have their gates regularly checked by a professionally trained installer (a minimum of every six months) and in particular, take advantage of such school breaks as the October half term.
Stuart Letley MD / Safety Practitioner at RSA & In House (the home of School SafetyMARK) says: “I cannot stress enough how important it is for schools to heed the advice of Gate Safe when it comes to ensuring the safety of automated gates. At SafetyMARK, we find examples of poor practice concerning these gates all too often when we audit schools. They often overlook the fact that automated gates are in effect large ‘machines’ and without adopting the correct safety controls and adhering to the recommended maintenance programme, these gates can represent a significant safety hazard, ironically sometimes harming the very people that they are designed to protect. It is my recommendation that all schools with automated gates should use Gate Safe approved contractors to check and maintain them.”
Since January 2010, seven automated gate accidents involving children have been reported in the UK (and there are many more near misses which never make the headlines), two of which were fatalities, and the remaining five involving near misses after children became trapped in the gates. Two of these incidents were in schools.
Visit http://gate-safe.org.
