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Keep Your Children Safe and Away

Author: Amy Newman
by Amy Newman
Posted: Apr 03, 2016

Anyone with small children can attest to the fact that they seem to get themselves in the most harrowing situations from time to time. You turn your head for one minute and they’re trying to swallow a marble or stick a fork in a plug socket. This is why if you have an automatic garage door, you should probably be doing what you can to keep children away from it. However you may slip up at some point and you won’t always be there to keep things safe, so here are a few tips you can use to make sure that a nasty accident never happens when you’re not looking.

Good old fashion education

Of course the first thing you should probably do (if your kids are old enough) is explain to them the dangers of moving machinery. Often enough, once they are explained something, kids can be good at keeping themselves out of trouble. Give them a quick lesson on the various dangers of the garage door, especially about the door's movement.

Explain that they should keep their fingers away from the garage door track even when the system is not in operation, because they can cause some serious damage. Ball games and other playful activities should be kept to outside as well, since even a seemingly light damage on the system can be devastating if it leads to an accident.

Make sure your safety features are working

Each system should have at least two different safety functions on it, with some states insisting by law that there are more.

Test your door opener’s reverse function regularly by applying mild pressure to the door as it is closing. If the door doesn’t change direction, then it would probably be dangerous for anyone unlucky enough to be playing under it when it closes.

Be sure that your opener’s safety sensors are working correctly by obstructing the beam as you are closing it. If everything is in order, the door should stop closing and change direction immediately. This is an essential safety feature which is required by law in many states.

If, for any reason these features are not working, it is a bad idea to ignore them, especially if you have children running about the place. You should waste no time contacting a technician when the safety functions fail, as you never know when they could save a life or limb. Remember to test them regularly as well, because they won’t warn you when they are faulty, and the worse kind of security is a false sense of one.

About the Author

I am the daughter of a great garage door repairman. Everything I know, I learned from him. Make sure to also check out my blog, Amy's Garage Door Corner!

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Author: Amy Newman

Amy Newman

Member since: Jan 19, 2016
Published articles: 1

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