Mechanical and Safety Engineering (MASE) Product Failure Injury Report
Product involved: Handicap access door
What happened: An elderly woman was injured when an automatic handicap access door closed on her, causing injury to her wrist as well as causing her to fall to the ground
Injuries: Wrist, broken hip
Recommendations: Automatically closing handicap access doors need to be equipped with sensors that stop and/or reverse the motion of the door when an obstacle is encountered. The Americans with Disabilities Act has certain requirements that must be met. Other standards may also apply, and engineering design protocol requires a safeguard for this clearly identified hazard. Minimizing power to the door to perform its function properly would help minimize the severity of injuries resulting from contact with a closing door. Touch sensors, motion sensors, pressure sensitive mats, and light beam sensors could all be used to determine if a person was in the path of the closing door(s).
OSHA/Standard violations?: No
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