With the advent of faster forklift trucks and faster opening doors there has been a marked increase in productivity but unfortunately this has come at a cost; an increase in industrial accidents. As a factory manager or the architect of a new industrial building part of the job is to buy heavy duty rubber doors. The time to consider the safety aspects of your industrial doors is before accidents happen, not afterwards.
Safety officers see that accidents with industrial doors can be categorized:
- Entrapment when an individual is pinned by the door
- Vertical impact if the door falls on an individual
- Horizontal impact when an individual collides with the door
If you are going to buy heavy duty rubber doors there are a few things that you should keep in mind so that your industrial doors are safe.
The first thing to do is actually study the situation. The size of the door and its purpose are very important. Will there be heavy traffic through the opening, will the forklift trucks be carrying large heavy loads and is the speed of the truck something that needs to be factored in? Some industrial door installations allow for both personnel and vehicular traffic and are there any impediments on either side of the door?
There are a considerable number of different industrial doors and the one you eventually choose must meet your safety expectations and must be designed for the application and situation. The cycle speed of the door must be chosen to be a positive factor in increased factory efficiency as well as having minimal maintenance demands. It may be necessary to consider quite large vision panels so forklift operators can see what may be on the other side of the door before they get there. If the installation is between two areas of the factory where it is necessary to have different controlled temperatures then a good seal and a fast opening and closing speed will be important.
When you buy heavy duty rubber doors also consider having them installed by professionals. Entrust the installation to the door manufacturer or the local representative. Without proper installation it may be difficult to guarantee safety and operating efficiency.
