Assa Abloy Whitepaper Automatic Door Design Guide
Assa Abloy Whitepaper Automatic Door Design Guide
Design Guide
Addressing Safety Hazards and Compliance
INTRODUCTION
Architects, specifiers and building owners have a duty to ensure that automatic doors are safely
designed and professionally maintained. Automatic sliding and swinging doors are ubiquitous in
modern buildings, from hospitals and aged care facilities to residential and commercial buildings.
If automatic doors are not designed or built correctly, people using them to enter and exit
buildings run the risk of being hit, trapped, or seriously injured.
Endorsed by the Australian Automatic Door Industry Forum, AS 5007:2007 “Powered doors for
pedestrian access and egress” sets out the performance, safety and maintenance requirements
for automatic pedestrian doors including sliding doors, swing doors, folding doors and revolving
doors. Compliance with AS 5007 is essential to ensure the safety of all pedestrians and the
protection of industry stakeholders.
The increasing technical complexity of buildings means that architects, specifiers and designers
must be aware of the safety requirements that impact automatic door installation and design. In
the event of an accident involving a power-operated door, architects could be held liable along
with developers, manufacturers, installers, service providers, and building owners.
There are additional repercussions that might compromise the successful delivery of the project.
Installing a non-compliant automatic door may result in the owner needing to pull out the door
and replace it with a compliant solution. The architectural vision may be compromised if the
dimensions required to install a compliant automatic door are not factored into the design from
the start. In either case, rework will be needed, leading to additional costs and schedule delays.
Below, we examine the requirements for designing and specifying automatic doors, with a
focus on addressing safety hazards and compliance with AS 5007. In particular, we discuss the
design safeguards for automatic sliding and swinging doors to prevent head, body and finger
entrapment.
Sliding door safety
General stroke. Safety hazard warning signage is
As power-operated doors are machines with moving parts, also recommended.
the safety of users is one of the key design considerations. • Install safety guard screens that cover the length of
The obvious danger zones are those where moving
the stroke of the door, with a minimum height of 2 m.
components pass by stationary components. These
The screen should be pivotable to allow cleaning and
zones create a risk for body parts to become trapped and
crushed without the correct safety precautions. designed such that children will not be able to open,
climb up or get under the screen.
When it comes to automatic sliding doors, the danger
points are at the junction of the two leaves and at the two Finger entrapment and draw in
closing edges. The risk can be decreased by specifying
A finger entrapment or draw-in hazard exists in the
sensors, which detect the presence of a user in the
following circumstances:
danger zone, and pocket screens, which are essentially
pockets into which doors slide. • If there is a gap of more than 8 mm between two
Head and body entrapment sliding surfaces, it is possible for fingers to be drawn in.
Under AS 5007, a head entrapment hazard exists where: • If there is a space less than 20 mm between two
• The distance between the rear of the sliding door and sliding surfaces, it is possible for hands to be drawn in.
adjacent parts surrounding it is less than 200 mm. • The stopping distance from a fixed mullion is less
• The distance from the face of the sliding door to the than 40 mm.
sidelight’s furthest surface is greater than 100 mm.
• Any area where letter boxes, letter flaps, handles, grilles,
(Often occurs with 150 mm framing that is front glazed.)
or other surface-mounted hardware are installed on the
door or sidelight can also pose a hazard.