Commercial garage doors provide security, functionality, and are an essential component of your business’s everyday operations. A commercial garage door is also a heavy-duty piece of equipment with powerful mechanisms and speed that can cause serious injury and death.
This highlights the importance of ensuring the proper safety procedures are in place when operating an industrial garage door. Like other heavy-duty equipment, industrial garage doors have safety procedures and policies to avoid accidents, including rules of operation, training, and regularly scheduled commercial overhead door repair and maintenance.
At Overhead Door Company of Lethbridge, Calgary & Cranbrook, we provide professional commercial garage door services to keep you and your employees safe. To further enhance garage door safety, we recommend the following tips.
1. Set rules
Some accidents occur not because of mechanical errors but of operator errors. To reduce the risk of serious injury, it’s important to set rules that pertain to operating a commercial garage door and display these rules throughout the facility.
A few rules to inform your employees of are:
- Do not stand or walk under a moving industrial garage door
- Always keep your eye on the garage door when operating
- Always raise the garage door to a fully-open position
- Keep the area around the garage door free from obstruction
- Never operate an industrial garage door while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
2. Train employees
Operating a garage door is similar to operating heavy equipment, and employees should be trained as such. Limit the use of your commercial garage door strictly to employees who are trained and informed to use it. When training, it’s important to go over:
- The risks involved
- Emergency procedures
- Improper use
- Safety protocols
- Hazard assessments
3. Schedule regular maintenance
Last but certainly not least, be sure to schedule regular maintenance with a professional garage door technician. The specialized machinery and power of an industrial garage door should always be handled by a trained and certified technician. For the safety of everyone, we advise never to attempt a DIY repair or maintenance.
Having a regular maintenance schedule in place ensures that each garage door component and part is working at an optimal level. A professional technician can identify possible hazards early on before they become a more significant issue requiring an emergency repair.
4. The bottom line
For large warehouses, shipping facilities, retail establishments, and auto shops, commercial garage doors experience frequent use. Keeping your industrial garage door maintained is critical for the safety and security of all employees and customers.
Contact us for all of your commercial garage door needs. We provide both on-call and regularly-scheduled maintenance to keep your garage doors operating efficiently year-round. With office locations in Lethbridge, Calgary & Cranbrook, you can count on us to be there when you need it.
