Gate Safe was set up in 2010, in the wake of the tragic deaths of two children crushed by automated gates, in separate accidents. Gate Safe – which has been commended by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) for its ‘pioneering approach’ – was established to improve the understanding of existing legislation and standards, and to offer further guidance in ‘plain english’ to aid the interpretation of what constitutes a safe gate. The charity focuses on raising awareness of the critical safety issues associated with powered gates amongst the wide range of professionals associated with these types of installations, via training and education.
Gate Safe aims to prevent any further fatalities / injuries occurring as a result of electric gate accidents. Although legislation exists along with various British Standards, which provide guidelines on the manufacture and installation of electric gates, the interpretation / awareness of this information can lead to confusion. Gate Safe runs its own training programme and has a directory of Gate-safe approved installers
Gate Safe would also like to see tighter controls in relation to the maintenance of gates – this includes those installed prior to the current guidelines / legislation.
Gate Safe is also working to control the sale of DIY automation kits which enables anyone to transform a regular manual gate into a machine.
In 2023 Gate Safe launched its ‘Gate Safety by Design’ initiative. The campaign objective is to raise awareness of the number of accidents – and fatalities – which could have been prevented had the correct measures been taken to ensure ‘safety is designed in’ from the outset. The charity had produced a number of guides to ensure that gate manufacturers, and installers improving the safety of gates retrospectively, to ensure that the correct safety measures are fitted to prevent accidents.