Modern commercial gates are vastly more convenient than their predecessors. This convenience does, however, come at a small price. It’s much more important to have commercial gates serviced frequently.
To explain further, Newgate, specialists in commercial gates and barriers share their insight into the key reasons every business should service their physical security systems.
If you have employees, you have a duty of care towards them. If you have members of the public on your premises, then you have a duty of care towards them too. For completeness, in this context, the term “members of the public” effectively means anyone who is legitimately on your premises but is not connected with your organization. A common example of this would be delivery people.
Even if none of this applies, if your commercial gates cause anybody else any problems whatsoever, then you will be held liable for this. It, therefore, makes sense to protect yourself by protecting other people and ensuring that your commercial gates are safe.
The UK is not a particularly cold country. Even the most northerly parts of Scotland are warmer than many other parts of the world. In fact, they’re warmer than many other parts of Europe. It is, however, a very wet and windy country.
Being continually pounded by rain and wind takes its toll on anything that spends its life outdoors. Wind is often worse than rain for commercial gates as it creates resistance. This makes the gates less aerodynamic and hence forces them to work harder to open and close.
Furthermore, a lot of the UK is near a coastline. Industrial gates in these areas will be exposed to salt in the atmosphere. Salt is a known corrosive. It’s also abrasive. This means that even if it doesn’t actually cause rust, it will still damage metal. Industrial gates in coastal areas will, therefore, be particularly vulnerable to damage.
On top of all of this, the simple fact of the matter is that time and use inevitably lead to wear and tear. Wear and tear generally starts out as a minor issue but if it is left unattended it will grow into a bigger problem. Having your commercial gates serviced regularly gives you the best chance of catching problems when they’re small. You can then deal with them in a controlled manner instead of having costly breakdown call-outs.
If you want to get the longest usable lifespan out of any asset, then you need to take care of it appropriately. This rule applies to commercial gates as much as to anything else. The minor inconvenience of getting your commercial gates serviced regularly can be more than offset by increased return on your investment this will give you.
At the end of the day, commercial gates are a security feature. They only enhance your security if they work reliably. Ensuring that they are regularly serviced is essential for this. In most commercial environments, gates will need servicing at least twice a year to ensure that they always perform reliably.
If the gates only get light use, then once a year may be fine. This is standard for gates in private residential buildings. If gates are hardly ever used, then having them serviced every other year may be fine. This would, however, be very unusual for commercial gates.
Your commercial and industrial gates are there to serve a practical purpose but for most companies they also serve an aesthetic one. Your commercial gates are probably, quite literally, part of your public image. They’re certainly part of the image you show your employees and anyone else who visits your site. It’s therefore preferable to keep them looking good and regular servicing can play a major role in this.
This article was contribute by Lucinda Thorpe, Business Development Executive at Newgate who specialise in secured access solutions such as security barriers and gates, bollards and road blockers, which are British designed and built.