3 Tips for Garage Door Safety

Thousands of people are injured every year in accidents involving their garage doors. It’s one of the largest moving objects in your home, and you walk underneath it multiple times each day without a second thought—but more than 15,000 people each year are injured due to these doors. Here are a few tips to help keep you and your family safe.

Perform regular inspections of the door and its sensors.

The safety sensors in the garage door are the main line of defense against injury. These sensors stop the door from descending if it detects something underneath it, but if those sensors are not calibrated correctly it can continue to drop without stopping. Place a broom or another object under the door and then press the button for it to close. If the door doesn’t immediately detect the beam, contact a repair service to take a look at your door. Imagine if it was one of your children instead of the broom—you want the door in perfect working order.

Keep garage door inputs out of reach of children.

Make sure the buttons for closing the garage door are at least five feet above the ground, if not more. This will make it difficult for children to reach them and reduce the chance of injury. You should also strive to keep the garage door remote away from kids.

Beware of fingers.

More than 7,500 injuries per year are due to fingers getting caught in garage doors. If you just winced, you aren’t alone. Make sure your children keep their hands away from the garage door when it is closing. Although newer doors have pinch protection to help protect against this possibility, it isn’t a guarantee.