AUTOMATIC DOORS
The Importance of Checking Your Doors Daily
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By Michael Panish
Automatic Door Expert Witness
I have been involved in hundreds of automatic door cases working for both
plaintiff and defense. As discussed in one of my previous articles (The Ins and Outs of Automatic Door Operation), automatic doors are highly complex pieces of equipment that require
daily attention. Most injuries occur when some component of the automatic
door system malfunctions. On most automatic door assemblies, the manufacturer
places warning labels or stickers that inform the supervising manager
of commercial stores that these doors require daily safety inspections.
This duty of daily safety checks is the responsibility of the store or
facility management. It has been stated in many depositions that the operations
procedures of many stores simply do not include the daily regiment needed
for properly verifying the safe operation of commercial automatic door systems.
All chain stores are in business to make the most money possible. Most
store chains have developed stringent policies that include the detailed
placement and stacking of their products. They mandate how wide and high
a pile of boxes may be placed on the sales floor. Studies have been made
to determine the orientation of product placement in relationship to the
aisle traffic flow. All of these highly thought out plans are done to
attract the most customers to the product featured. They set up programs
on how to clean the restrooms and establish intervals for their cleaning,
including restroom cleaning logs and charts for maintenance personnel.
Upper management employs designers to strategically place and arrange
the candy and impulse items for sale around the cash registers. In direct
contrast, it has been demonstrated that many chains have no knowledge,
concern or policies in place when it comes to the safe operation of their
automatic pedestrian doors. They rely upon service providers and sub vendors
that only make repairs when an apparent problem arises at a particular
location. The stores very rarely have a periodic maintenance (P.M.) plan
in place for these automatic door systems. To store management, automatic
door systems are simply not part of income generation for their business.
As discovered in several past cases, the idea that there should be daily
safety inspections of their automatic pedestrian doors comes as a surprise
to the store manager. It is often their feeling that there is never enough
time for store opening preparations, and checking on the automatic doors
is not something that they have ever been asked to do. The managers are
too busy readying the store for opening to spend any additional time on
this non revenue generating aspect of their daily operation. The culture
of the chain stores is that they pay to have door services provided when
needed, so they believe individual store management bears no responsibility
when an accident happens to one of their patrons.
If a lawsuit for automatic door related injury is filed against a big chain
store, an attempt to transfer the blame is often directed at the repair
and service entities. Automatic door manufacturers are usually included
in the chain of blame. If there are multiple vendors and service providers,
it is very convoluted determining who performed the service, and difficult
to track the path of responsibility. Most chains clearly have no policies
in place when it comes to protecting their patrons from possibly the most
dangerous part of their stores.
There are several agencies and organizations that door manufacturers use
as the minimum standard for safe design and practical implementation of
their products. These standards are readily available to the management
of any commercial store. Usually, training is given to installers, vendors
and suppliers that attempt to provide standardized techniques throughout
the automatic door industry. This standardized training enables service
companies to inspect doors and certify that the doors at the time of the
inspection met minimum safety requirements uniformly. Even though every
technician and installer may have certified training, that has no bearing
on the necessity of the individual store management verifying the safe
operation of the automatic doors on a daily basis. Training programs for
door safety awareness are available from several organizations, door vendors
and some service providers. I have never seen an example where upper management
actively participates in such programs for training.
As part of my door inspection related services, I have personally offered
programs to establish and develop store policies for daily safety checks
and record retention for chain stores. There are a variety of proper procedures
that are recommended during this program that greatly reduce the negligence
of the local store management. By educating and training store management
to properly evaluate their automatic pedestrian doors, they greatly reduce
the risk of serious personal injury to their patrons. The focus of this
training process is to insure that the store management has diligently
and thoroughly evaluated the automatic door systems. This daily evaluation
would bring yet another layer of safety to the store patrons and perhaps
reduce the chance of injury caused by a malfunctioning automatic door system.
While evaluating your next door related injury case, it is essential that
you have a full understanding of the various layers of responsibility
that may play a role in the path leading to the door malfunctioning. It
is critical that you find the best expert available to show you all available
methods to detect and specifically identify who the responsible parties
are. This is usually a multilayered issue where knowing the right expert
with years of experience in the automatic door industry will greatly enhance
your claim potential.
Mike Panish is a forensic expert witness and consultant in the construction
industry. One of his areas of expertise pertains to automatic door cases
and he has over 35 years of hands on experience dealing with commercial,
multi residential, hotel, hospital, lab and other locations where specialty
door systems are needed. He has written several articles on the subject
of door related claims and maintenance issues related to automatic door
systems. He is licensed as a door and hardware contractor in the State
of California. He has been involved in automatic door cases across the
United States. He has been used as a consultant and has been retained
and designated as expert in many types of door injury related claims for
both the plaintiff and defense. Mike is able to quickly ascertain the
facts, explain the critical information pertaining to your case and can
assist you in developing your case from discovery through trial. He has
offices in California, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He is available
for nationwide consulting and expert analysis and testimony.
Michael Panish can be reached at (888) 902-4272 (ask for Sharon).