Communal Electric Gate - regulations?

[Seb101]

Hi,

We have a communal electric gate which controls access to a car-park for a small development of 20 flats and 4 houses. It's managed by an external company and we pay a monthly management fee which covers maintenance etc.

I was very surprised to find that, during a 4 hour power cut the other week, there is no battery backup for the gate. There is also no way of opening it manually (other than unbolting the hinges).

Is this typical? I would have thought gates would be required to have either a backup or a manual override. Are there any regulations that cover this?

Cheers

 

[bernardgreen]

If the gate controls the only pedestrian route for evacuation for example during a fire then they need to be modified to provide manual opening at any time.

If they are the best ( or only ) access for emergency vehicles to all or some of the properties then they need to be modified to provide open with a Fire Key that fire appliances carry. If you need a bit of help with getting the managment company to act then ask the Fire Prevention ( or Safety ) Officer at your local Fire Brigade for an opinion / advice about the gates.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I suspect it would come down to the individual situation, if for example fire brigade access or escape during an emergency situation would be impeded by it not being operable then battery back-up or a manual override would be required. But if it merely prevents car access then probably not. Though it’s difficult to see that if car or pedestrian access was impeded that emergency access would not also be impeded.

Impeded is a great word, I think I will try to use the word impeded more often in my posts as I do not use the word impeded enough.

edit: beaten to it. Good shout about getting FB involved.

 

[Seb101]

Cheers guys.

There is a separate pedestrian entrance, which is un-gated. However as you say, it would be impossible to drive a fire-truck or ambulance within 50 yards of the property in the event of a power outage, which could be dangerous. Do you have any reference for the fire regulations?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

As for access for the fire brigade it will (should) have been assessed during its construction if it’s a recent build as part of the Building Control approval, if not a recent build then the Risk Assessments undertaken by the management company should pick them up, if they’ve ever done them …...

No idea about the ambulance access.

 

[bernardgreen]

No idea about the ambulance access.

Provided the un-gated pedestrian access is wide enough for a stretcher, wheeled trolley or chair to pass then ambulance "access" is ( in most situations ) considered adequate. Bariatric transport may require a wider than normal path way.

 

[^woody^]

It would be very unusual if any gate of this type did not have a manual override, even if it's not particularly obvious - for obvious reasons.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

It would be very unusual if any gate of this type did not have a manual override, even if it's not particularly obvious - for obvious reasons.

Unless the management company are muppets which is pretty common. But of course if it has it, it may well not obvious to the lay person for obvious reasons.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

My mates gates have a motor driven rack and pinion arrange for operating them, they look like hydraulic cylinders. So the only way of operating them manually would be by rotating a handle plugged into the back of the motor (should only take 5,000 turns ) or pulling out the pivoting pin at the gate end then the gates would be like ordinary gates.
Frank

 

[SimonH2]

Unless the management company are muppets which is pretty common.

And on the TV news it's been announced that a firm has been fined £50,000 over the case of an automatic gate that killed a young girl (crush injury as gate closed) a while back. If there's any hesitation from the management company to discuss risk assessments etc then mentioning this might concentrate their minds a bit !