A garage door is the largest moving object in the home. An improperly adjusted garage door opener can exert deadly force when the door closes; which could lead to an entrapment of children or adults and subsequent injury or death . I experienced the injury side of this myself. Our house was built in 1959 and we had two old wooden doors that were hard to get up and down as it was. They were basically falling apart. I remember we had a string attached to the handle outside to pull it down. Anyways, my six year old daughter at that time decided that since I was out there doing something she would put on her roller skates and skate in the garage. So, as she is skating along she begins to fall and grabs a hold of one of the arm joints that bend when the door is open . The garage door begins to fall on her as I run to try to stop the door from crushing her leg. She fell backwards out of the garage and I slowed the fall from the inside. The door hit her in the shin and broke it. What a nightmare as I imagined how much worse it could have been. She could have crushed her fingers in that joint or worse. We took her to the ER and she got a cast and did fine. She of course is 15 now but neither one of us will be quick to forget that day. I myself just never though about the safety hazards and why its important to maintain the doors and replace them if needed until that moment. So, Tip #1 Teach Your Children About Garage Door Safety!!! Do not allow children to play or hang on your garage door. It is dangerous and can result in injury or death. Do not let children play with or use remote controls. You should always keep remote controls out of their reach. Next week I will give you tip #2.
