Why do I need safety brakes?
Safety brakes on your shutters are an important investment for the security of your business premises. We are going to look at why it is important for your roller shutters to have safety brakes for your safety and others.
Shutters are in used in a wide range of environments from office buildings, warehouses, industrial, educational, and retail buildings. They also offer good protection against fire, theft and other hazards that could cause harm.
To ensure your roller shutter door complies with European Regulations, it must be fitted with a safety brake if the curtain weighs over 20kg. This additional brake stops the shutter from dropping in the event of an electrical or mechanical failure that could otherwise be fatal.
It is compulsory to ensure that your roller shutters and doors comply with the Workplace Regulation 1992 Maintenance of Equipment, Devices and Systems. To comply fully with current regulations, you need to ensure that the roller shutters are inspected at least once a year.
You can read more here on the legal requirements and safety information on your shutter doors here on the DHF website.
What are safety brakes?
It’s a device fixed to the shutter that slows down or stops the motion of the shutters by applying pressure against one side of the door, its essential to provide health and safety for people and protection for your property.
This centrifugal brake arrests the descent of the shutter if there is a failure in the motor. If the motor’s operational brake fails to hold the shutter stationary when it is in its upper position, or the shutter descends at an uncontrolled speed, the safety brake will activate and bring the shutter to a complete halt.
There are many different types of safety brakes depending on the size and use of the door, each one comes with varying specifications and benefits which can be discussed to make sure you are installing the correct system.
Having this protection, you can be confident that you customers and staff will be safe.
Roller shutters have caused accidents without the implementation of safety brakes. By maintaining and servicing your shutters you will have peace of mind they are in good working order. By regular checks engineers can identify potential problems before they occur saving costly one-off repairs or breakdowns.
Installation, service, and assessments should always be by a DHF Competent trained shutter engineers. Call our team on 0800 0838630 or email us here to arrange a visit.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Basically the law states reasonable and practical measures must be taken to ensure that shutters are safe, and as there are product specific Standards in place (EN12604 and EN12453), these are the expected minimum safety levels to fulfil the legal requirements.
With regards to the CE rating- on regular roller shutters (not CE rated) we are able to retrospectively change the motor and barrel assembly to accommodate a safety brake mechanism however we are unable to do so with fire shutters.
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