A few years ago,  a kid in the next town over got his shirt caught on a garage door handle and was picked up and dangled in the air for several minutes before an adult found him.  Luckily, he was fine.

Most people never think of their garage door as a danger.  But it is. All garage doors are heavy, have parts under tension, and can come down hard if there is a failure.  The track and other parts have sharp edges, and there are lots of potential pinch points.

Most garage doors are hooked up to an electric opener, many of which were installed or adjusted improperly.  They can crush things, or lift things up in the air.

Cats love to try to shoot under the door just before it reaches the ground.  They are the most frequently casualties of unsafe doors. When I was a kid, my mom saw it happen to our cat, and was fast enough to reverse the door and save him.

Garage Door Safety Guidelines:

  1.  The “close force” sensitivity must be set so that your garage door reverses if it encounters more than 20 lbs of pressure closing to prevent crushing things.
  2. The “open force” must be set so that the door stops moving if it is held down or is jammed.  Both force setting adjustments are also critical to preventing damage to your door.
  3. Make sure that the safety eye sensors are 6″ or less off the ground.  This could save your cat, as even openers that reverse properly can still hurt small animals.
  4. Keep stuff away from the door.  I am always amazed how many people lean stuff against the vertical door track.  There is space for things (for example, the handle of a rake or shovel) to get caught behind the track, where the door will hit it.
  5. Keep kids away from garage doors.  Pinched fingers happen all the time.
  6. Don’t let your cat sit on top of the door when it is open!  Lots of cats like to jump from the car hood, to the roof, to on top of the open door, a perfect place for a nap.  Sometimes they stay there when the door starts closing, and get crushed by the TOP of the door and the wall.
  7. Never activate a garage door that you can’t see.

This list covers normal use of residential garage doors.  If you are thinking of working on the door yourself, there are many more safety precautions you must follow!