What gets analyzed in a door inspection and how to avoid fines?
Manufacturer and product data, CE marking, documentation and safety requirements are the main aspects analyzed by the competent bodies when inspecting a retail, industrial or garage door. To avoid fines, which can range from 60,000 euros to 100 million, companies and professionals should identify the legal requirements for sales, installation and maintenance.
Various institutions and bodies keep watch to ensure that the market functions smoothly. The General Directorate of Industry in each autonomous community is responsible for checking that the retail, industrial and garage doors that are put on the market comply with current codes and standards, as Carlos Márquez, Technical Director at INTEGRA Engineering and Coordinator of CEportal, pointed out recently at a webinar on this topic.
Moreover, as Márquez noted, if a door is operated by a worker "the occupational risk prevention service can demand its suitability when checking the risk assessment”. Similarly, if there has been a workplace accident at a door, it "could be inspected by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety”.
At the same time, "the insurance company would carry out an expert appraisal of the door in case of personal injury and material damage. In addition, architects and engineers should require the door to have the CE marking in order to sign the final construction certificate, and builders can stop payment until it is brought into compliance”.
Points analyzed
Carlos Márquez explained that the main aspects that are inspected in a door are divided into four main sections: Manufacturer and door data, CE marking, documentation and safety requirements. “Each one contemplates a series of requirements specified in the codes and standards applicable to the door being inspected”.
To avoid fines, companies and professionals have to identify the legal requirements they are required to comply with when selling, installing and maintaining a door. “Once this is done, compliance has to be documented in each case for each door: technical dossier, delivery notes and documentation, and having implemented factory production controls”.
Fines can range "from 60,000 euros to 100 million, depending on the seriousness of the infringement”. In addition, the Administration "can force the company or professional to withdraw all the doors from the market”.
Liabilities
The liability of manufacturing, installation and maintenance companies varies in each case, so "it is essential to know at all times what I am selling (complete door, components, or manpower) and what I may be buying”.
Thus, "mainly, the manufacturing companies have to deliver the doors with their CE marking and everything that entails. The installers must follow the installation instructions provided by the manufacturer and carry them out correctly, as well as hand over the technical documentation of the door to its owner. Finally, maintenance companies must inform the owner of any safety requirements that are not fulfilled before carrying out the first maintenance of a door and assess how to bring them up to code”.
In addition, the maintenance operations must be "carried out correctly at the intervals indicated by the manufacturer and recorded in the maintenance book. If they are not available, the maintenance company will have to define them by using its technical criteria and may rely on the UNE 85635”.
Link to CEportal's workshop on door inspections: