Keep The Kids Safe These School Holidays

Take a few minutes to help keep kids safe around the garage door

It’s the largest moving household item and typically used several times a day, but many homeowners don’t consider their garage door as a significant safety risk.

With one in 10 homeowners* reporting that they, or a family member have been injured by an automatic garage door, teaching children about the dangers of garage doors is crucial.

A garage door closing on anyone can be painful, but injuries to children can be especially distressing. Most accidents occur when children play with the door opener button and are trapped under closing doors that failed to reverse.

As you can see in this video, you only need to look away for a few seconds before a child can get into trouble around the garage door.

Here are a few things you can do to keep your kids safe these holidays.

1. Teach your kids about the importance of being safe around the garage door

Unfortunately, action stars like Indiana Jones make sliding under a closing door look like a great idea, but as the largest moving object in the home, garage doors should never be played with.

Make sure your kids know to keep well away from a moving door and not to run under it, and to keep all toys and play equipment at a safe distance.

2. Keep controls and openers out of reach of children

Children can be naturally very curious, and lots of buttons can be very tempting to press. Keep wall mounted buttons and openers out of reach of children.

3. Perform a safety reversal check

Take a few minutes every month to perform a safety reversal check to make sure your opener complies with Australian standards.

1. Place a 40mm object under the door (like a block of wood)
2. Operate the door to come in contact with the object
3. Door should bounce back in less than a second (0.75 second)

If this does NOT occur, home owners should contact Merlin on 1800 638 234.

* Our online survey, conducted by Pure Profile, was fielded during 2017 to a nationally representative sample of 1,251 Australians aged 18+ years, who identified as having automated garage doors.