Safety First!How to Enhance the Safety of Automatic Swing Doors?

Safety First!
How to Enhance the Safety of
Automatic Swing Doors?
31.03.2023
- Application
- Product

Because of the added convenience, improved safety, a seamless, hands-free entry experience to pedestrians but also various benefits such as energy saving and hygiene they bring, automatic doors are now widely used in shopping malls, hotels, airports, plants, warehouses, hospitals etc. While in bringing in the convenience and easy access, automatic doors may also be very dangerous especially with improper installation, maintaince, sometimes can be fatal injuries.

For each type of door, the danger points lie in different aspects. In previous article we have shared why a standard is necessary to ensure the safety of automatic doors, and what would be the danger points of sliding doors and how to avoid the danger points, if you haven’t read the article or would like to reflect the information, you may find it here as below please.

Safety first! How to Enhance the Safety of Automatic Sliding Doors?

Here in this article we would like to share what does EN16005 cover for automatic swing doors, and how to ensure the safety for this type of door.

High-risk Environment

In this environment, there is a large portion of elderly, disabled and young children passing through automatic swing doors like hospitals, schools, elderly home, or supermarket. No contact with the door is allowed in high-risk areas, even for low energy doors.

High-Risk Environment Risky Areas

Leading edge, this area has to be safe up to 2.5m (If the door is operating at full speed, and the sensor fails to detect the object is still at the door, there is possibility to crush the object).
Hinge area, this area has to be safe up to 2m (Without proper protective devices, there are risks of entrapping hands or fingers during the opening/closing process).
Door leaf, the whole door width has to be secured.

BEA Offers In High-Risk Environment

The 4SAFE sensor with 2 or 3 cards protects the whole width of the door leaf. An additional safety for the hinge area is mandatory. Additional safety for the hinge area is required.

The LZR®-FLATSCAN SW covers the whole door leaf, the leading edge and the hinge area. In particularly risky environments such as a kindergarten, we recommend a risk assessment for the hinge area.

The LZR®-FLATSCAN 3D SW removes all risks thanks to its volumetric coverage. It offers comfort for the user by avoiding unexpected movement of the door leaves and can be installed in full compliance with the EN 16005 requirements in any situation.

Tolerated-Risk Environment

In this environment, there is a very low proportion of elderly, disabled and young children passing through automatic swing doors like an office building.

Tolerated-Risk Environment Risky Areas

On normal automatic swing doors, we speak about partial safety, means the leading edge and the hinge area, must be secured according to annex G.

Leading edge, this area has to be safe up to 2.5m(If the door is operating at full speed, and the sensor fails to detect the object is still at the door, there is possibility to crush the object).
Hinge area, this area has to be safe up to 2m (Without proper protective devices, there are risks of entrapping hands or fingers during the opening/closing process).
According to the annex G that details the safety width depending on door dimensions and door speed.

On low energy doors, door leaf safety is not required, nevertheless finger protection (as highlighted below) is always mandatory.

Minimum opening/closing time 4,5 seconds.
Maximum contact force is 67 Newton.

BEA Offers In Tolerated-Risk Environment

The 4SAFE sensor with 1 card only secures the area of the door leaf that is most dangerous. Additional safety for the hinge area is required.

The LZR®-FLATSCAN SW protects the whole door leaf and the hinge area as an all-in-one solution.
The LZR®-FLATSCAN 3D SW can be installed to offer extra comfort to the user.

However, there are two exceptions where full safety is required, even in a tolerated risk environment.

First, when the distance between the wall and the open door leaf is less than 50cm; and secondly when the door opens to an area where a lot of pedestrian in cross traffic.

Welcome to explore more on opening and safety solutions for swing doors.

31.03.2023