Garage Door Injuries

The garage door is usually the heaviest moving item in a house, sometimes weighing as much as 300 to 400 pounds. Make sure that your children know the safety rules. State Farm offers preventative steps you can take.

Most children may not be aware of the dangers.

Avoid Accidents. Make sure your children know:

• No one should stand, walk, or run under a closing door. Adults should model this behavior as well and provide a good example.

• Never play under or near the garage door.

• Children should know to go for responsible, adult help when assistance is needed. However, when children reach an age where they can responsibly learn, they should know how to use the emergency release in case someone is pinned.

Additional Preventative Steps You Can Take

• Install garage door push buttons at least five feet above the floor, out of reach of small children.

• Garage door openers manufactured after Jan. 1, 1993, are required by federal law have an automatic feature that reverses the door if it comes in contact with an object while closing.

• If your garage door opener does not have this feature, consider replacing the opener. If it does have this feature, test it regularly by placing a 2x4 flat board on the ground and close the door. If the door does not reverse, hire a qualified individual to adjust or repair the door opener or door.

• Visually inspect the garage door springs, rollers, pulleys, cables, and track on a regular basis. Look for loose or worn parts. Do not attempt any maintenance around the springs. The springs, their mounting brackets, cables, and other associated hardware are under high tension. If a part were to break or come loose, it could cause serious injury. An experienced individual should do this work.