A garage door provides safety, security, and function to your home.
Most come with springs for hassle-free opening and closing.
However, when these springs malfunction, the garage doors pose a serious safety hazard to those who operate them.
In this regard, Can You Get Crushed By A Garage Door?
Unfortunately, this is possible, but unlikely. This is especially true considering that most modern garage doors come with safety systems to help prevent garage door accidents. Surprisingly, only minor garage door accidents result from personal negligence.
This post will cover more about the hazards posed by garage doors and how to prevent or avoid garage door accidents.
Why Are Garage Door Springs Important?
A majority of modern garages are fitted with doors made of lightweight materials and springs that allow them to open and close easily.
But have you ever imagined what could happen if the garage door springs break?
Well, while getting hit with a falling garage door is not one of the things you can quickly think of, garage doors can cause as many as 30,000 injuries every year.
Garage doors are massive in size and can weigh hundreds of pounds, which can be a threat to their operators, especially if the springs are broken.
To better understand how one can get crushed by a garage door, it is imperative to understand the working principle of these useful features. So here is how.
Garage doors have a spring that provides a counterweight. When you are opening the door, these springs offer much-needed support, which helps make lifting or lowering the door easy.
Ultimately, the springs keep the door from slamming to the ground.
When the springs malfunction or break, they won’t offer the needed support, which can cause the door to come down unexpectedly.
If you are so unlucky to be directly underneath the garage door’s path when the door comes down, you may sustain fatal injuries. In the worst scenarios, a garage door can cause death.
Regarding garage door accidents, the elderly are at higher risk, as being knocked off balance or breaking a bone can result in severe complications, rapid deterioration, and sometimes, death.
Three Bad Garage Door Encounters
No one is immune to garage door accidents, including garage door experts. Here are some of the bad encounters with garage doors:
1. A Garage Door Lowering Onto Someone
While this seems far-fetched, many people have been crushed by garage doors.
Statistically, about 2,000 people are crushed by garage doors yearly, with most victims being children.
As if this is not enough, garage door crush accidents are still more common despite the many significant advances to ensure safety through automation.
2. Garage Door Pinching The Operator
Many people have unwillingly become victims of garage door pinches, and approximately 7,500 people are pinched by garage doors every year.
Although the injuries caused by pinches are often not severe, they can be very painful.
3. Garage Door Falling On Someone
Although the chances of a garage door falling are extremely low, sometimes improperly installed doors can leave their tracks and fall.
Garage doors can fall if they have only one torsion spring or if one of their springs get damaged or malfunction.
Considering its weight, a garage door falling on someone can be fatal.
In the right set of circumstances, garage doors can cause severe injuries.
How To Prevent Garage Door Accidents
When it comes to garage door accidents, broken garage door springs create the most dangerous situations.
As such, one of the best ways to prevent garage door accidents would be to handle the springs with care and ensure they remain in good condition throughout.
Here are tips and ways to prevent garage door accidents:
- Use springs designed for your garage door, and always let a professional install your garage door.
- Regularly inspect your garage door and its mechanisms, including the springs, hinges, and panels. If your door needs to be repaired, don’t hesitate to get a pro to perform the fixes. You can organize with a certified garage door specialist to regularly inspect your garage door and perform necessary maintenance.
- Always avoid DIY when it comes to fixing your garage door unless you’re a professional. This is vitally important considering that a mistake when installing garage door springs can bring the entire weight in you.
- Educate yourself and your children about the dangers of garage doors, especially while they are in motion. This is extremely important if your children play in and underneath the garage door. Your children could be playing beneath the garage door, daring to cross to the other side as the door lowers down. Even if your garage door has automatic sensors that detect when a person or object is underneath it, it can still cause serious injuries should the sensors fail.
- Steer away from your garage door as it closes. Keep small children away from garages, especially when the door is moving.
- Invest in good-quality garage door sensors, and make sure they are functional throughout.
- Improper care and being uneducated are prime causes of garage door accidents. As such, proper care and being watchful can prevent most garage door accidents.
Can A Garage Door Cause Death?
Victims of garage door accidents have been known to sustain mild to serious injuries, depending on different factors, including where the garage door lowers onto the person, its size, and overall weight.
In cases where heavy-duty garage doors — made of heavy materials like steel — crush someone, the victim is more likely to sustain fatal injuries.
Although rare, garage door accidents can as well lead to death in the worst scenarios, and death is more prevalent among children.
Of significance, garage door accidents are more likely to cause death if the door’s torsion spring accidentally comes from its fixings, causing the door to come down unexpectedly and faster.
Besides causing death in humans, garage door accidents are responsible for hundreds of pet deaths.
For this reason, it is strongly advised that you check the track/path of your garage door before putting a figure on the remote control.
This is very important, considering that garage doors have been proven to be very dangerous.
To counter the obvious dangers and ensure the safety of homeowners, garage door operators, children, and pets, modern garage doors are designed with plenty of safety features.
Conclusion
Garage doors can be life-threatening, especially when the springs that help them move malfunction or break.
If you are wondering whether a garage door can crush you, the sad truth is that it can.
Only that the chances are minimal as long as you handle your garage door with a lot of care.
Proper maintenance and being knowledgeable can save you from most garage door injuries.
