Doors are important, for without them there would be no security, no environmental control, no storage, no privacy; BUT doors can be inherently dangerous and there needs to be a degree of responsibility exercised by those who have control over those doors.

ALL DOORS IN YOUR FACILITY SHOULD OPERATE SMOOTHLY. THEY SHOULD OPEN, CLOSE AND LOCK WITH LITTLE EFFORT.

Some things to look out for in order to prevent door-related injuries are:

(a) Ensure that the hinges are firmly installed and that the door is not “wobbly”.

(b) Ensure that any door closers are correctly adjusted so that they pause for long enough to allow anything in the latch (doorknob) area, including hands, fingers and feet, to be removed quickly prior to that final slam.

(c) If the door is fitted with a panic bar, the ends of which are so close to the door jambs when the door is closed that they create pinch hazards, consider having the panic bar shortened or replaced, so as to
remove the pinch hazard.

(d) If the door handle is of the type that the door may be easily opened by a young child, thereby allowing the child to leave the room unnoticed by the caregiver, you should consider replacing those handles or
installing alarms, such as travel alarms, to sound if the door is opened.

(e) When fitting door hinge guards, do ensure that they allow the door to open to its fullest extent.
Remember that some doors open to 180° and any hinge guard that does not allow this is likely, nay, certain to pull away from the door, leaving the finger-pinch hazard still there! Try to avoid hinge guards that use
glue as the method of attachment. If the surfaces to which these are attached are not properly prepared the hinge guards can easily become detached. Also many glues cannot stand up to the wide extremes of temperature that may be encountered in some geographic areas.

(f) Both the opening hinge side and the hinge pin side (where the hinges protrude), must be protected. Injuries at the hinge pin side do not just include amputations and crushings, but also head lacerations if the child should fall hitting his or her head on the protruding hinges.

(g) If there are glass doors, ensure that:
(i) the glass is shatterproof or of the wired glass variety;
(ii) there is some warning on the glass to prevent somebody walking straight into it, unaware that there is plain glass in front of them. Use vinyl window decoration or children’s artwork.

IF YOUR FACILITY IS ALREADY FITTED WITH Fingersafe® DOOR HINGE GUARDS YOU SHOULD INSPECT THEM PERIODICALLY TO CHECK FOR THE FOLLOWING:

MAKE SURE THAT, ON THE MKlA’s, THE ACCORDION PIECES ARE FIRMLY SNAPPED INTO THE FIXING STRIPS. IF THERE IS HEAVY TRAFFIC THROUGH ANY PARTICULAR DOOR, SCREW THREE OR FOUR SCREWS THROUGH THE FIXING STRIP AND ACCORDION WHERE THEY MEET.

MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE NOT DAMAGED. IF THEY ARE, PLEASE CONTACT US FOR REPLACEMENT PRICING.
THE ACCORDION PIECE IS DESIGNED TO BE REMOVABLE. IF YOU HAVE A DAMAGED ONE, IT CAN BE EASILY REPLACED.  ROUGH ANY PARTICULAR DOOR, YOU MAY WISH TO CONSIDER SCREWING THREE OR FOUR SCREWS THROUGH THE FIXING STRIP AND ACCORDION WHERE THEY MEET.