Home Safety - Large

Garage Door Safety

Automatic garage doors are dangerous, and in fact can be deadly to anyone struck or trapped by a closing door. Garage doors are particularly dangerous to young children.

Why are automatic garage doors a problem?

  • Canadian hospitals participating in an injury reporting program recorded that 77.6% of garage door injuries occur at a person's own home and that 37.7% of injuries occur during the summer months of June through August.
  • Of all garage door related injuries reported by hospitals in Canada, 59% involved caught or cut fingers or hands, and 23.5% involved a garage door coming down on a person.
  • The most common injury is fingers getting caught or crushed in the joints of the door. Injuries relating to the failure of extension or torsion springs send approximately 1,000 people to hospital emergency rooms every year in the U.S.
  • Most injuries and fatalities happen when children find access to garage door opening devices and are trapped under a door that does not automatically reverse.
  • According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 20,000 people each year have been treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to garage doors.
  • Over 85 children have died or suffered severe brain injuries involving automatic garage doors since 1974.

How can I prevent garage door injuries?

With a safely designed garage door, detailed instruction to family members, warning labels in key locations, and regular maintenance, the risk of injury from garage doors can be dramatically reduced.

  • Test your door monthly. Your door should reverse when it comes down on a roll of paper towels. Do not test by using a firm object such as a block of wood; this does not indicate whether a door would reverse without causing injury to a child in its path. Doors failing the paper towel test should be disconnected until they are professionally serviced. If the door cannot be sufficiently adjusted, replace it with a model that meets current safety standards.
  • Read and follow all manufacturers' instructions. Keep the emergency release mechanism where you can find it fast, and know how to use it.
  • Educate your children. Teach your children the dangers of automatic garage doors - especially playing "chicken" or trying to slide under the door before it closes.
  • Ensure that your garage door is childproof. Install activation buttons at least six feet above the floor. Keep the remote control up and out of your child's reach or keep it in a locked car. Also consider retrofitting your door with keypad switches, which discourage use by children.
  • Set a good example for children. Make it a rule in your family to never walk beneath a closing door. Also, after activating a garage door, remember not to drive or walk away until the door is completely closed.

Sources include:

  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  • Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program