Garage Door Injuries

Transcripts: This video will discuss the danger posed by a malfunctioning garage door. While an automatic garage door represents a great convenience, it also can present a hazard if the components malfunction. A garage door is simply a machine, it consists of springs, cables rollers and pulleys. If a component fails the door may not operate as expected. For example torsion spring components are under high tension and large doors are usually equipped with two of them. But if one of these springs fails, the motor that powers the door up and down when the button is pushed can get overstressed and stop functioning. And the door may be stuck in an open position, a closed position, or somewhere in between. All automatic doors have a release so that is used so if the door loses power you can still open the door. If a user is unaware of that a spring has broken however and pulls the lever the door can come down at a high velocity with much force and cause a serious injury. Having a professional periodically inspect the door can be essential to see that the door is functioning properly. And that inspection will include all the mechanical components including the motor and the springs. Garage doors should have automatic sensors on them at least all that have been installed in the last 10 years. And those sensors will prevent the door from closing if a child or a small animal goes between those sensors. These can be tested yourself and you can use an object to trigger the sensor and see if the door will stop movement. But the things like the springs and the motor is functioning and whether the other mechanical items of the door are functioning correctly should be done by a professional inspector. And we would suggest that these be done fairly regularly.