In brief
Sectional, high-speed and sliding industrial doors carry three main risks: trapping and crushing by the closing leaf, the leaf falling when a spring or cable breaks, and a sliding door leaving its track and toppling over. The Regulation on Workplace Buildings and Annexes requires devices against these risks, and Annex III of the Regulation on Work Equipment requires a periodic inspection once a year unless the standards set a shorter period. Daily photocell and safety edge tests complement this inspection.
How do accidents happen with industrial doors?
The motorised doors of warehouses and factories open and close hundreds of times a day, and most of the time nobody looks at them. Accidents come from exactly this habit: a pedestrian trying to pass under a closing leaf, a forklift that moves the door while it is half open, a maintenance worker trying to adjust a tensioned spring. That is why industrial door periodic inspection is not just paperwork; it is the way to confirm, with an independent eye at least once a year, that the devices preventing the door from trapping, falling and toppling are working.
The door types frequently found on site and their main risks are:
| Door type | Typical hazard | Protective device |
|---|---|---|
| Sectional (panels fold upwards) | Crushing at the closing edge, finger trapping between panels, leaf falling when a spring or cable breaks | Safety edge, photocell, spring break and cable break safety devices, finger-protection panel profile |
| High-speed door (PVC curtain or roller) | Striking a pedestrian or forklift at high speed, trapping at the closing edge | Light curtain or photocell, soft bottom edge, curtain that leaves its track on impact and can be refitted |
| Sliding door | Crushing between the closing edge and the wall, cuts at the rollers, leaving its track and toppling over | Safety edge, photocell, anti-topple guide, roller guard |
| Loading bay door | Interaction with the dock leveller and vehicles, forklift impact | Door-leveller sequence, impact barrier, separate pedestrian door |
Fire doors and doors on escape routes are subject to separate rules; we covered these in our article on escape route and emergency exit door rules.
Legal framework: two regulations
What a door must be like is set out in Annex 1, Art. 35 of the Regulation on Health and Safety Measures in Workplace Buildings and Annexes:
- Sliding (track-mounted) doors have a system that prevents them from leaving their track and toppling over.
- Doors that open upwards have a system that prevents the door from falling.
- Where doors open to vehicle traffic are not safe for pedestrians, there are separate pedestrian doors immediately nearby that are clearly marked and kept open at all times.
- Mechanical doors operate without creating an accident risk for employees; they have an easily noticed and accessible emergency stop device and, if they do not open automatically when power fails, they can be opened by hand.
- Doors on escape routes are marked and can always be opened from the inside without assistance.
How often and against which criteria the door is inspected is set out in Annex III of the Regulation on Health and Safety Requirements for the Use of Work Equipment. According to the industrial racking and doors table of Annex III, renewed on 23 December 2025, industrial doors are inspected at least once a year against the criteria in TS EN 13241+A2, TS EN 12453 and TS EN 12604+A1, unless the standards set a shorter period.
Sectional door safety: photocell and safety edge
The best-known risk with automatic doors is trapping at the closing edge. A motorised door has two basic devices against this risk:
- Photocell and light curtain: Detects a person or vehicle passing through the door opening when the beam is interrupted, and stops closing or reopens the door. A single-beam photocell sees an obstacle at a certain height; it may not see a pallet on the floor or a person bending down. This is why light curtains, which scan a wider area, are preferred for high-speed doors.
- Door safety edge: A pressure-sensitive profile on the bottom edge of the leaf. When the edge touches an obstacle, the door stops and reopens. If the edge’s cable is broken, the profile is torn or the sensor inside it is crushed, the door may keep closing, crushing the obstacle.
Some doors operate only with a hold-to-run control: when the user releases the button, the door stops. This is an accepted form of protection provided the control is placed where the whole door can be seen. If the control has been moved to a corner without a view of the door, the protection is lost.
Springs and cables: the hidden energy of a sectional door
The heavy leaf of a sectional door is balanced by torsion springs above the door. When the door is closed, these springs are tensioned and store considerable energy. If a spring breaks or a suspension cable snaps, the leaf may fall; that is why the anti-fall system the regulation requires for upward-opening doors must be present on the door in the form of spring break and cable break safety devices.
The most dangerous maintenance task is adjusting or replacing a tensioned spring. This work is done only by maintenance staff trained on that door type, after the door motor has been isolated and locked out, and with the tools specified in the manufacturer’s instructions. We described the isolation steps in our article on the LOTO procedure. A warehouse employee or forklift driver trying to straighten a “sagging” door by hand must be strictly prevented.
A door with frayed cable strands, cracks or rust on the spring, or that is unbalanced when opening and closing, is reported to the maintenance team without waiting for the annual inspection.
Annual periodic inspection: what is checked?
The annual inspection is carried out within the framework of the relevant standards and the report and criteria documents published by the Ministry. In the competent person’s report you will typically see the following headings:
- Condition of the leaf, panels, tracks and supporting structure; fasteners
- Condition of the springs, cables, pulleys and balancing system; operation of the spring break and cable break safety devices
- Function of the safety edge, photocell and light curtain
- Emergency stop device and the ability to open by hand when power fails
- For sliding doors, guides that prevent the door from leaving its track and toppling over
- Control location, warning signs and operating instructions
According to Annex III, periodic inspection of industrial doors is carried out by mechanical, mechatronics, metallurgical and materials, manufacturing and civil engineers; technical teachers who graduated from construction, mechanical and metal education departments; and civil or mechanical technicians and senior technicians. The person carrying out the inspection must be registered in EKİPNET (the Ministry’s register of persons authorised for periodic inspections), and the contract must be set up through ISG-KATİP (the Ministry’s online OHS registration system) at least one day before the inspection. We explained how ISG-KATİP is used on the employer side in our article What is ISG-KATİP. The person who maintains the door cannot carry out the periodic inspection of the same door (Regulation Art. 14/A-2).
You can find how to read the sections of the report in our article on how to read a periodic inspection report, and the period table for all equipment in our article on periodic inspection intervals for work equipment.
Loading bay doors and forklift impacts
In logistics warehouses, one of the typical starting points of door failures is forklift impact. A forklift mast trying to pass under a half-open door bends the bottom panel; the bent panel jams in the track, the safety edge is crushed, and at the next closing the door does not detect the obstacle. To prevent this:
- Place impact barriers on both sides of the door opening and on the track columns.
- Demonstrate in training the rule that forklift drivers must not pass until the door is fully open.
- Make it easy to report a door after an impact; if reporting leads to punishment, damage will be hidden.
- Put the operating sequence of the loading bay door and the dock leveller in writing; the lorry driver and the forklift driver should know the same sequence. For other loading bay risks, see our article on loading dock safety.
- Provide a separate door for pedestrians next to the vehicle door, kept open.
At Bursa Sistemer, in our periodic inspection service we draw up the door inventory, plan the annual inspections with competent persons registered in EKİPNET and follow up the closure of defects in the report. You can track inspection dates with the OHS calendar tool and find other risks specific to the logistics and warehousing sector on our sector page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often is the periodic inspection of industrial doors carried out?
According to Annex III of the Regulation on Work Equipment, at least once a year unless the relevant standards provide for a shorter period. The inspection is carried out against the criteria of TS EN 13241+A2, TS EN 12453 and TS EN 12604+A1.
Can the company that maintains the door inspect it?
The person who maintains a piece of equipment cannot carry out the periodic inspection of the same equipment. Verify from the report and service records that maintenance and inspection are carried out by different people.
Does a door with a photocell also need a safety edge?
A photocell sees an obstacle at a certain height; it may miss an object on the floor or a person bending down. The door type, the way it is used and the relevant standard determine which combination is needed; the adequacy of the protection level is assessed at the annual inspection.
How is the door opened when power fails?
The regulation requires mechanical doors that do not open automatically when power fails to be openable by hand. Show the employees near the door where the manual release lever or chain is and how to use it, and try it out during emergency drills.
Equipment inventory and an inspection calendar under the new Annex III, with inspections carried out through our solution partners, plus report and defect follow-up.
Bursa SİSTEMER OSGB Technical Team — written from the field experience of our OHS specialists and workplace physicians. Legal information is valid as of the publication/update date; contact us for an assessment specific to your business.