While a garage door opener provides a great feature for your home, improper use and care results in thousands of injuries being treated every year. Research has shown that up to twenty thousand people are seen in emergency rooms each year as a result of garage door accidents. Automatic Garage Door Riverside advices that there are a number of ways you can minimize the risk of an accident at your home.
Take Care with your Door Openers
Just as you would take care not to leave your wallet, pocketbook or keys on display or accessible to anyone, you should take care with your fobs and remote controls. The garage presents the most accessible point of your home to intruders, so don’t make accessing your garage easy.
It’s Not a Toy:
Many children are curious about fobs and controllers, so it is important to teach your children that the opener system is not a toy. Ensure wall controls are installed out of children’s reach and explain the dangers of moving garage doors.
Ensure it is Equipped with Safety Features:
All systems manufactured after 1993. were required to have a safety feature built in to reverse the door to the fully open position in the event of obstruction. This is designed to prevent the door from unexpectedly closing on an object, pet or person. If your opener is older, it may not have this level of safety feature. If you are concerned about the safety of your door, it may be worth upgrading to a more advanced model.
Regularly Inspect:
Many accidents are the result of poor maintenance. You should test the safety features of your door using a piece of wood placed in the path of the door. If the sensor does not register the object and continues to close, it is not functioning correctly and needs attention. You should also keep monitoring garage door parts such as hinges, rollers, springs and tracks for signs of wear or damage.
Taking some basic precautions can significantly increase your chances of avoiding an accident. You should remember that your door can weigh up to four hundred pounds and should be treated with care and respect to avoid accident or injury.