Jorge Iñesta (Region of Madrid): "in the last 4 years we have inspected 240 automatic garage doors"

How important is the inspection of automatic garage doors in the Region of Madrid?

Automatic doors are very common features of our daily life which we often take for granted without paying much attention to them. It is not unusual for us to use them to enter shops or buildings or, for example, to take our vehicle out of the garage. However, few people stop to think that these automatic doors are machines that are driven by a motor and that, if they do not have the necessary elements to guarantee their safe operation, they can put the people or vehicles that pass through them at risk.

For this reason, both in Spain and in the European Union, specific regulations have been developed for automatic doors, which oblige them to comply with a number of safety requirements without which they cannot be marketed or put into service. The task of the Directorate General for Economic and Industrial Promotion is to ensure that these regulations are complied with in the Region of Madrid and to prevent automatic doors that do not meet these requirements from being installed in the region.

Although it is true that the market surveillance carried out by the DG for Economic and Industrial Promotion covers many other products, in recent years we have carried out several inspection campaigns focused specifically on automatic garage doors, as we have noted that this is a sector with many manufacturers and a high percentage of micro-SMEs, in which it is necessary to reinforce surveillance to ensure that it works properly. Thus, in the last four years alone we have inspected 240 automatic garage doors in our region, a figure that reflects the importance we attach to the inspection of this type of door.   

What results have been obtained so far?

In fact, at the beginning of April, inspections began for the 2023 national campaign for motorised industrial, commercial and garage doors, which is being carried out under the framework of the Market Unity Working Group of the Industry and SME Sectorial Conference. This year, nine autonomous regions are finally participating (Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla y Leon, Catalonia, Extremadura, La Rioja, the Region of Madrid, Murcia and the Region of Valencia) and we hope that this type of joint action in a major part of the national territory will show the sector that there is a firm will on the part of the Government to monitor this type of product and remove from the market any products that do not comply with the applicable regulations.

In this regard, it is important to note that market surveillance, in addition to protecting product users, works in favour of reputable manufacturers who comply with regulations and who are subject to unfair competition from those who do not and who, more often than not, have much lower production costs than their own, which means they can sell cheaper and probably unsafe products. That is why, in this type of action, we have always had the support of the most important associations in the sector, which do not see market surveillance as an enemy of the sector but as something that ensures that everyone competes with the same ground rules.

How is automation of pedestrian doors taking place?

I would like to focus on the pedestrian access doors to the entrance halls of condominiums that are being automated in recent times as a result of the implementation of accessibility improvement legislation. According to the information that is reaching us, in many cases these automations are being carried out without complying with the regulations applicable to the machines that guarantee their safety and without taking into account that, when a motor is fitted to a manual door, it becomes just that, a machine, with risks that are not always obvious. That is why it is necessary for this type of work to be carried out by a trained professional who, when installing these motors, becomes the manufacturer of the automatic pedestrian door for legal purposes and acquires very specific obligations, such as taking into account the applicable safety requirements, marking the door with the CE mark and issuing the respective EU Declaration of Conformity.

In this regard, I think it is important to stress that it is not enough for the motor to be fitted to have its CE mark, but the conditions of the door, its activation, the distances to adjacent walls, etc., must also be assessed, and the additional safety measures provided for in the applicable regulations must be adopted. It is only after the risk analysis has been carried out and the necessary solutions have been provided that the CE mark can be affixed to the door and the respective EU Declaration of Conformity can be issued.

It is important that all those who are making this type of pedestrian door motorisations without complying with the applicable regulations should be aware that they are committing an infringement of the Industry Act, which can lead to fines of up to six million Euro or even more if their actions result in an accident or serious harm to people; something that cannot be ruled out, given that these doors are often used by children and people with reduced mobility, so if they do not have the necessary safety measures, they could cause a real tragedy.