My partner, Alys was recently knocked to the ground when a shop’s electronic doors closed on her as she stepped through them – the incident was caught on security camera.
As she was knocked over, her legs were pushed together and, on falling, her hips and head impacted on the pavement and resulting in a head bruise and swelling.
A trip to hospital for scans and tests showed concussion. Still suffering effects several weeks later, Alys visited her doctor. Concerned about her headaches and an issue with her eye, he sent her back to hospital for further tests.
There, an eye inspection revealed the lens from a cataract operation had moved out of position when she hit her head.
Such accidents can have a serious detrimental impact especially when you are nearly 90 years old! Alys, who uses a cane, was lucky to have escaped more serious damage; if she had broken a hip bone, the outcome could have been terminal.
Previously, I had thought these automatic doors were ultra-sensitive and would retract when encountering light pressure. Not in this case. I even put myself in a position where I could not be detected and tried to stop the door from closing. It took significant effort.
Thinking this was a rare accident, I told others then heard they too had experienced issues.
I understand these doors mostly rely on light beam activation. However, disaster can result (as with Alys) if the closing force of the doors is set at a level too strong for some to make them reverse.
That this particular incident occurred at a pharmacy visited by the elderly or people with stability issues, made the issue worse.
Afterwards, the pharmacy did put up a sandwich board to make people step more to the middle of the entranceway so they could be detected by the beam. However, that seems to be a compromise especially as passing pedestrians can sometimes be detected by the beam causing the doors to open and close when no one is entering the store.
I now believe some sort of regulations or checks are needed to ensure such doors are operated within a set of parameters – no blind spots. At the very least, customers need to be cautioned and advised on how to enter the doors safely.
In summary: Alys was close to the shop wall to allow people to pass by. Because I had stepped through the door ahead of her, it was fully open. Alys stepped into the opening, close to the outer framework, putting her in an area untouched by the beam thus resulting in a nasty accident. Perhaps, a simple solution is to fix a post in the ground so such blind spots cannot be reached.
Ron Floyd, Renwick