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ANSI and the Customer at Your Door

As a premise Owner, Architect, Contractor or other professionals responsible for growing a business, it's easy to overlook some basic issues that could affect the safety of customers, starting with your front door.

Mom is entering while pushing a stroller, an elderly gentleman approaches using a walker, another customer has some bags with items for exchange and the hurried businessperson has just a minute to make a last minute purchase and dash off to a meeting. Typical conditions hampering these people from easily and safely accessing a building can be heavy manual swing doors, inefficient vestibule layouts or difficult traffic patterns. Fortunately, automatic doors are specifically designed to move people efficiently and safely into and out of a building. Automatic swing, slide and folding doors each have unique characteristics that offer customers ease of access and energy saving features for a variety of businesses.

Safety is the primary concern, and thanks to the ANSI/BHMA standards (American National Standards Institute/Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association) both full power (ANSI/BHMA A156.10) and low energy (ANSI/BHMA A156.19) automatic door equipment can be evaluated for compliance to minimum safety standards.

Approximately every five years standards are re-visited for improvements and updates based on the latest technology, industry needs and usage of automatic door equipment.

For full power doors, the revised standard was approved on 9/20/05. Full power swing, slide and fold doors are defined as automatically opening when approached by pedestrians and some small vehicular traffic, or by a knowing act such as a card reader or other type of switch. Because of the force and speed in which they move, additional safety features are associated with these types of doors.

The low energy door standard is in process of revision at this time. Low energy applies to swing doors only. The two most common types of low energy swing doors are "Power Operated" and "Power Open". A power operated swing door opens and closes upon receipt of an actuating signal and does not generate more kinetic energy while opening or closing than specified in the standard. A power open swing door similarly opens upon receipt of an actuating signal, does not generate more kinetic energy while opening, but closes by other means such as an hydraulic closer. These are slow moving doors with minimal force required to stop. Typical applications are offices, libraries and other similar institutions.

Maintenance of automatic pedestrian door equipment is no exception and also requires periodic servicing and inspection to ensure compliance with the ANSI/BHMA standards. It is strongly recommended that an inspector certified by the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) inspect all automatic pedestrian doors at the time of installation and, at a minimum, annually. It is also recommended that a qualified professional maintain the doors on a regular basis according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Daily Safety Checks are recommended for the end user to help determine if the doors are working properly in-between scheduled maintenance programs. The premise owner or manager etc. is usually the key person in seeing that automatic doors are kept in good working order. There are a number of resources available for help with doing a daily safety check on automatic door equipment for owners, managers etc. whose job it is to "open for business" each day. A "Daily Safety Check Label" which is available through door manufacturers and service providers, should be installed on or near all automatic door equipment. These labels literally walk you through a step-by-step procedure to assess if the doors are functioning properly. A video on swing, slide and fold doors is available from AAADM, as well as personalized instruction from your AAADM certified service provider. Information can also be found in the owner's manual, which may highlight additional features that a specific brand of product could have.

For more information on the standards and products see www.buildershardware.com, www.AAADM.com and www.nabcoentrances.com.