If you have many children or vulnerable adults on your premises, they are at risk of trapping their fingers between the door and its frame. Before we tell you why it's vital for you to have finger guards for doors installed, you need to understand how they help you prevent accidents and when you should have them installed.
The risk is real
When a door closes into its frame, there are numerous points at which your fingers may get trapped. There are thousands of children who get their fingers trapped indoors every year.
Though this may not seem critical, most of these children need to be rushed to the hospital and often require an operation. Depending on the damage, you may even have to get a finger amputated, leaving a lifelong scar on the young ones.
The most common points for finger entrapment on doors include the latch and hinge side.
Latch
The latch area of the door is relatively easy to reduce the risk of entrapment. You can choose to install a self-closing device that reduces the speed of closure. You can even have foam bumpers installed, but only if the door doesn't need to close fully.
Hinge trap
The gap that opens up on the far side of the door – also known as the hinge cavity – is the point that is infamous for finger entrapment accidents. Because of all the known risks, it is now standard practice within primary schools, nurseries, and children care centres for particular high-traffic doors to have finger guards installed.
Why should you fit door guards on a bifold door?
Since bi-fold doors are gaining a lot of popularity, it's not hard to see why we need to make them safe. Finger guards for bi-fold doors can help you stay safe from accidents, saving you from rushing to the hospital.
Preventing these injuries is critical. You should install finger trap protection on all hinged doors where users can get their fingers chopped.
Where should these be fitted?
There is not any specific regulation that states you need to have finger protection installed. Nevertheless, there is a catch. Because of how the safety legislation is written, if it is an established practice to install finger guards for doors in certain situations, then, as in past cases, not having them installed can very well result in prosecution.
These finger guards need to be installed in nurseries, cheches, indoor play areas aimed for young children, and any other area used by the first two-year groups of primary schooling institutions. In most cases, local authorities will insist on it since £10 is a small price to avoid a significant fine.
For any other type of institution, the manager needs to assess the overall risk. Finger trapping accidents tend to increase if the door is heavy, susceptible to being blown shut by a gust of wind, or in an area where children congregate.
If you feel like there is any risk of such accidents on your premises, you should strongly consider getting finger guards installed.