25-11-2021, 02:00 PM
I am a property manager for CFH management in Bolton, I am starting to manage properties with Electric gates and I am on a steep learning curve as to the current legislation, One property has two Ditec leaf gates, recently refurbished, but from Jan 1st I have a site in Manchester with ten sets of GBD (Gibidi) leaf gates, which have been isolated for none compliance by the service company. From my experience with gate service companies they seem hell bent on isolating gates if they are Non compliant which seems to be the practice across the board, (They wont take them on service contract unless compliant) If a gate is found to be 13 years old and deemed none compliant, this gate would be non compliant to todays standard, but would have been compliant when installed and been CE marked, it does not suddenly become unsafe when regulation change. Where the gate is found to be none compliant then that should be reported as "requires improvement" but the gate left working, any improvements are for the gate owner to consider and It is the owners responsibility to take the risk. A gate should only be isolated where a safety critical issue or device is defective or become structurally unsafe, only then does the maintenance contractor have the authority to isolate the gate, lock it off and leave it in a safe condition.
The owner of these gates has now been quoted £26K to return them to service, my question is, after spending £26k today and the legislation changes tomorrow should the gates be isolated again until compliant?
It appears to be a form of Blackmail to extract cash instead of assessing the gate for what it is?
My argument is that any short-comings on the gates should be identified and put to the owner and not isolated. My example would be that "a Car from 1960s without seatbelts, ABS crumple zones etc are still MOTd and on the roads today, there is no need to make it safer and add all the above in order to pass an MOT!
Do you think the existing gates should be simply switched back on, serviced and risk assessed? Then improvements made as time goes on?
What do you think?
Mark
The owner of these gates has now been quoted £26K to return them to service, my question is, after spending £26k today and the legislation changes tomorrow should the gates be isolated again until compliant?
It appears to be a form of Blackmail to extract cash instead of assessing the gate for what it is?
My argument is that any short-comings on the gates should be identified and put to the owner and not isolated. My example would be that "a Car from 1960s without seatbelts, ABS crumple zones etc are still MOTd and on the roads today, there is no need to make it safer and add all the above in order to pass an MOT!
Do you think the existing gates should be simply switched back on, serviced and risk assessed? Then improvements made as time goes on?
What do you think?
Mark