Easy opening, safe closing

Safe escape routes without compromising accessibility and user comfort

There are increasingly stringent requirements for doors in the market. For example with regard to airtightness, soundproofing, burglar and fire safety. Moreover, we are increasingly dealing with non-standard door sizes, notes Ronald van Driel, Head of Sales GEZE Benelux. “This creates a growing imbalance between safety and accessibility, which is still the essence for users.” In order to eliminate this imbalance, GEZE's door solutions are continuously being developed. “In doing so, we not only pay attention to safety, accessibility and user comfort, but also to current standards such as the tightened EN 16005 for automatic doors.”

GEZE is a German family company with more than 160 years of experience in producing solutions in the field of door, window and safety technology. Following regulations, Van Driel notices that the perception in the field of safe escape routes is changing. “It is very nice to see that accessibility in buildings is becoming an increasingly important issue,” he says. “Moreover, the safe escape route is becoming better and better defined. Both in our standards and in building specifications, which calls for specific technical solutions.”

Physical strength on trial

Accessibility and user comfort must not be forgotten in these technical solutions, Van Driel emphasizes. “As a result of new requirements for airtightness, soundproofing, burglary and fire safety, the physical strength of users is increasingly being tested. For example, for the disabled, the elderly and children, opening doors in escape routes can be a challenge. We are happy to change this. We are constantly developing our portfolio with the aim of harmonizing safety, accessibility and user comfort on different levels.” An example of this is the mechanical door closers, which are constantly being further developed. In this way GEZE is taking accessibility and user comfort to ever higher levels.

Easy opening, safe closing

With the Powerturn automatic door operator, GEZE also offers a unique and sophisticated one-fit-all solution for swing doors of up to 600 kilograms that must be easy to open, but must also close safely after each opening. Simple, light and without concessions, where the swing door operator can be used either as a mechanical, servo-assisted or fully automatic solution. “And our automatic sliding doors also allow users or occupants to move through a building unhindered,” Van Driel said. “With this, we are exactly in line with the tightened EN 16005 standard.”

“The European EN 16005 standard is the only harmonized standard when it comes to the security of automated doors,” Van Driel emphasizes. “Among other things, the standard defines that ‘if a large proportion of the users are elderly, disabled or children, any contact with an automatic door is unacceptable.’ Properly securing automatic doors with sensors for turning circle protection, for example, is essential in that case.”