Garage
Door Injuries
The garage door is usually the heaviest moving item in a house, sometimes
weighing as much as 300 to 400 pounds. This creates a safety hazard, especially
for children who are smaller and may not be aware of the dangers. Most injuries
involve fingers or hands caught between the door sections as they close.
Children or animals can also be trapped under a closing door.
What
Children Should Know
Teach your children safe garage door practices. Make sure your children
know:
- No one should stand, walk, or run under a closing door. Adults
should model this behavior as well and provide a good example.
- Never play under or near the garage door.
- Children should know to go for responsible, adult help when
assistance is needed. However, when children reach an age where
they can responsibly learn, they should know how to use the emergency
release in case someone is pinned. Determining an appropriate
age for this is difficult, since all children mature, are physically
capable, and take responsibility at different ages.
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Additional
Preventative Steps You Can Take
- Install garage door push buttons at least five feet above the
floor, out of reach of small children.
- Garage door openers manufactured after Jan. 1, 1993, are required
by federal law to have advanced safety features. These openers
have an automatic reversing feature that reverses the door if
it comes in contact with an object while closing.
- If your garage door opener does not have this feature, consider
replacing the opener. If it does have this feature, test it regularly
by placing a 2x4 flat board on the ground and close the door.
If the door does not reverse, hire a qualified individual to adjust
or repair the door opener or door.
- Visually inspect the garage door springs, rollers, pulleys,
cables, and track on a regular basis. Look for loose or worn parts.
Do not attempt any maintenance around the springs. The springs,
their mounting brackets, cables, and other associated hardware
are under high tension. If a part were to break or come loose,
it could cause serious injury. An experienced individual should
do this work.
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State
Farm® believes the information contained in the Good Neighbor House®
is reliable and accurate. We cannot, however, guarantee the performance
of all items demonstrated or described in all situations. Always consult
an experienced contractor or other expert to determine the best application
of these ideas or products in your home.
1/28/1999
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