Fitting electric gates in Ascot? Check the crush protection before you sign anything

You've had the quote for new electric gates, the posts are going in at the end of the drive off London Road, and everyone's asking about the colour. Nobody asks what happens if a child's hand is on the pillar when the leaf swings shut. They should. The Health and Safety Executive has put out repeated safety alerts on powered gates after fatal crushing accidents, and a gate maker has been fined £80,000 after a boy's head was crushed.

The HSE's line is blunt. Limiting the closing force isn't enough on its own where the public can get to the gate. You need extra protection on top: safe gaps, fixed guards, and sensitive protective equipment such as pressure-sensitive safety edges and photocells. Anything that crushes, shears or traps has to be set up properly and then kept that way.

In practice, that means a gap of at least 500mm at the hinge post and the end stop, or a guard that closes it off. It means a safety edge on the leading edge of a swing gate, photocells set at around 300mm and 700mm off the ground, and force tested against BS EN 12453 using the BS EN 12445 test method. Not a guess, a measured figure written down on the commissioning sheet.

And here's the bit people miss. Seals perish, photocells get knocked by a delivery van, and a gate that passed in April can fail by November. A service once a year, with the force re-tested, is cheap next to the alternative. Sliding gates around Sunningdale and Sunninghill have the same issue at the leading edge and the track, so the rules don't skip them.

C and B Technical Installations fit and service electric gates across Cobham, Ascot, Datchet and the surrounding area. If you're thinking about new gates, or you're not sure the ones you've got would pass a force test, have a look at candbtechnical.co.uk or give the team a ring for a straight answer.

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