Is your garage door a safety risk?

The garage door is often the largest moving object in a home, and despite being something we use every day, there is very little consumer understanding around how to check your garage door’s safety, says Merlin, one of Australia’s leading garage door automation manufacturers. “We know there are incidents of people being injured in automated garage door accidents every year, many because their garage door opener isn’t up to scratch,” says Grant Emanuel, marketing director International, Chamberlain Group. “What many Australian’s don’t realise is that the garage door industry is self-regulated, which means some consumers are unknowingly buying non-compliant and unsafe garage door openers.” Merlin has released findings from its white paper report on garage door safety, which surveyed more than 1,000 Australians on their attitudes towards garage door safety. Key findings from the report reveal:

• 50 per cent of Australians don’t know if their garage door opener is compliant with Australian safety standards and 51 per cent don’t know how to check if their garage door opener is compliant with safety standards
• Almost 10 per cent experienced a family member or pet being injured by a garage door
• 74 per cent use their garage door at least twice every day, yet only 27 per cent conduct regular safety checks on their garage doors

“By sharing this research, we hope to encourage Australians to think more carefully about their garage doors and to undertake regular safety and maintenance checks. When it comes to installing a new garage door we want people to think about the safety of the garage door in the same way they think about the safety of the pool fence or the smoke alarm,” says Grant.