Fence Workers Association

Does your company install or service gate operators and access control systems?

If you do, then you have heard of UL and ASTM and how they affect your installations? It is important to recognize that these standards are part of our industry to protect and save lives.

This article will try and help your operation to better Understanding UL 325 and ASTM F2200 Standards and how your company can help the fence and gate industry mitigate injuries and fatalities.

UL 325 is the safety standard for door, draper, gate, louver and window operators. It contains the basic qualifying factors with which products must comply to be documented (listed) and marked (labeled) under the requirements of the UL 325 voluntary listing and labeling program. Manufacturers of gate operators submit their products voluntarily to Underwriters Laboratories. A key provision of UL 325 is that it requires all gate operators to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s installation guidelines.

UL does not “approve” products but tests them to ensure they meet the minimum standards required of the standard. Most Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) will require gate operators to be Listed to the UL 325 Standard, either by UL or another Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory.

UL 325 established four classes of gate operators and includes entrapment protection criteria for different types of operators. Entrapment is defined in the standard as the condition when an object is caught or held in a position that increases the risk of injury.

Four classes of gate operators per UL 325:

Class I: Residential, intended for use in a garage or parking area of a one-to-four-family dwelling

Class II: Commercial or general access vehicular gate operator for use in a commercial location or building such as a multi-family housing unit (five or more single family units), hotel garages, retail store or other building servicing the general public.

Class III: Industrial limited access vehicular gate operator, intended for use in an industrial location or building such as a factory or loading dock area or other locations not intended to service the general public.

Class IV: Restricted access vehicular gate operator, intended for use in a guarded industrial location or building such as an airport security area or other restricted access locations not servicing the general public, in which unauthorized access is prevented via supervision by security personnel.

ASTM F2200 safety standard establishes design and construction specifications of automated vehicular gate panels and other components to complement the UL 325 standard that applies to the operator. The standard applies to horizontal slide gates, horizontal swing gates, vertical lift gates, vertical pivot gates, and overhead pivot gates. This standard is especially focused on entrapment zones and fixed hazards associated with gates.

The ASTM F2200 standard is a guide for designers and fabricators of automated gates. As mentioned, the primary focus of the UL 325 standard is protection against entrapment relating to the gate operator, whereas ASTM F2200 addresses entrapment and other safety issues relating to the gate.

ASTM guidelines are set on gate protrusions, potential damage from rollers, protection from fall over hazards, and other potential exposures to injury or death.

If a gate is manufactured with the expectation of being automated, even if it is not automated at the time of installation, the gate is required to conform to the ASTM F2200 standard.

Four classes of automated gates per ASTM F200:

Class I: a gate for the garage or parking area of a one-to-four single family dwelling;

Class II: a gate for use in a commer

cial location, such as a multi-family housing unit (five or more single family units), hotel, garages, retail store, or building servicing the general public;

Class III: a gate intended for use in an industrial location or building such as a factory, loading dock area, or other locations not intended to service the general public;

Class IV: a gate intended for use in a guarded industrial location or building such as an airport security area, or other restricted access locations not servicing the general public, in which unauthorized access is prevented by means of supervision by security personnel.

UL 325 and ASTM F200 Comparison

If we look closely at the Classifications of both, the standards are complimenting each other, and this provides a safer installation. Understanding and combining these two standards into your installations will minimize your exposure and liability and again, the focus is to protect and save lives.

Although UL 325 does contain some design criteria related to automated gates, the primary standard that governs the gate panels is ASTM F2200. This standard was developed to ensure consistency in safety between the gate operator and the gate panel(s).

Pedestrian Access

UL 325 states that pedestrians must be supplied with a separate access opening. Automatic gate operators are for vehicular use only and should never be used to control pedestrian traffic.

ASTM F2200 states that any pedestrian access in the vicinity of an automated vehicular gate, requires a separate pedestrian gate. The pedestrian gate shall be installed in a location such that a pedestrian shall not encounter a moving vehicular access gate.

Code Compliance

It is important to understand that the International Code Council (ICC) has adopted the requirements of both UL 325 and ASTM F2200 standards for automated gates into the International Building Code (IBC), International Fire Code (IFC), the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC). I challenge your company to help educate the local codes of authority and help expand the knowledge to our communities, when the opportunity presents itself.

Additional Components to the Standards

A warning placard must be clearly visible from both sides of the gate, including when the gate is in the fully opened position. Manufacturers are required to provide two warning placards with each vehicular gate operator.

Automated gates must be designed and installed to prevent a fall of more than 45 degrees from the vertical plan when detached from the supporting hardware.

All openings must be guarded or screened from the bottom of the gate to the top of the gate, up to 72 inches above grade, so as to prevent a 2 ¼ sphere from penetrating the openings anywhere in the gate. This also extends to the adjacent fence that the cover covers when in the open position.

Positive stops are required to limit the travel of the gate to the fully open and fully closed positions.

All weight-bearing rollers 8 feet or less from grade must be covered or guarded

Items less than 9-square inches and attached to the gate such that they extend beyond the horizontal or vertical planes, are considered protrusions and are not permitted on automated gates.

However, the following are acceptable protrusions:

• - Gate locks and edge sensors

• - Objects that extend less than one-half inch and which have smooth surfaces

• - Wheels on slide gates (must be covered)

• - Top pickets and top decorative designs, provided they are in the vertical plane of the gate

• - Protrusions extending beyond the vertical plane of the gate are permitted provided the protrusions are at least seven feet above grade.

• - Automated gates must have smooth bottom edges with no protrusions more than one-half inch.