According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the emergency departments of the hospitals operate on approximately 15,000 injuries every year caused due to garage doors. Since your garage door is the bulkiest and the heaviest object in your house, any kind of breakdown or mess with it can cause serious injuries.
In this article, we will be highlighting six major tips that can help you to keep yourself and your family safe from garage door injuries.
1. Check The Safety Sensors
The safety sensors of the garage doors are attached to the rails on which the door rides. They reverse the direction of the closing door in case a person, animal, or any other object comes in between and blocks the passage of the closing door.
To test whether your garage door's safety sensors are working properly or not, you can push the control button, which starts closing the door. But before the door closes completely, place a broom or any other object in front of any of the sensors. This must result in an immediate stoppage of the door and its movement in reverse direction. If it doesn't go reverse, then you should immediately call the professionals to get it repaired and get the problem fixed to avoid any injuries.
2. Keep Passwords Secret
There are a lot of companies that provide you the garage doors with a feature that enables you to set one-time and user-specific codes. These can be very convenient when you've got someone from your family visiting you or a parcel to be delivered. It can be easily accessed by them without a need for you to disclose your passcode for the door opener's keypad. There are also many Android and iOS apps available that provide you with the ease of operating the door from afar.
3. No Free Rides
The children find it an opportunity to play and have fun to cross the closing garage doors and hanging on them. Teach them that it is not a toy to play with and can be hazardous. Give them a big no to this kind of fun.
4. Watch Your Fingers
According to the NEISS reports, more than 7,500 injuries are from fingers getting hurt as a result of keeping the hands in-between the panels of the garage doors. Make sure to keep your hands aside from the joints between the panels. There are also some doors that come with a pinch of protection to lessen the risk of serious injuries.
5. Keep Garage Door Opener Remotes out of the Reach of Children
Always keep the remote away from the reach of children and make sure that your garage door opener is not less than 5 ft above the ground level to keep it away from the reach of kids.
6. Test The Force
In case you try to push the door in any direction, be it upwards when it is closing or push it towards the ground when it is rising upwards, it must immediately stop, and if doesn't it should be possible for you to fix it on your own by adjusting the force.
Conclusion
With regular maintenance and adherence to above-mentioned tips, you can easily avoid unwanted situations causing damage to lives due to garage doors. If your garage door isn't working well and is not up-to-date with safety standards, then it is definitely time to contact garage door repair professionals right away!
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