UL 325 Standard for Safety: Door, Drapery, Gate, Louver and Window Operators and Systems

The standard to which vehicular gate operators are designed, manufactured, and tested is UL 325 — Underwriters Laboratories Inc.’s Standard for Safety: Door, Drapery, Gate, Louver, and Window Operators and Systems. In addition to UL 325, vehicular gate operators must also be tested to UL 991, Tests for Safety-Related Controls Employing Solid-State Devices. The UL 325 standard has undergone significant revisions over the past several years. The purpose of these revisions is to establish entrapment-prevention criteria for vehicular gate operators and systems, and to increase the overall safety of the product. We will provide you with a safe gate operating system. To ensure this safety, and to comply with the manufacturer’s installation instructions and industry safety standards, we will present you with different options for the entrapment protection devices we feel are necessary to ensure a safe gate system. Some of these entrapment protection devices are mandatory, and the automated gate system will not operate without them installed. You should also refer to the manufacturer’s installation manual for more information on the safety provisions and requirements of your vehicular gate system.

Safety and Construction

• The UL 325 Safety Standard requires at least two entrapment prevention devices. A gate operator typically uses an inherent system as one device, and the installer will provide external devices to meet the requirement.
  
  
• Entrapment protection devices are installed in areas where an entrapment hazard exists. These devices include contact (electric edges) and non-contact (photoelectric) sensors. These devices are monitored by the gate operator. Should the gate operator sense a fault in these devices, or if they are not connected, the gate operator will not run.
  
  
• Warning signs are placed in an area where they are visible from each side of the gate.
  
  
• Gate controls are installed in such a manner that a person operating the controls cannot come into contact with the gate or gate operator. Safety standard requirements state that controls must be a minimum of six (6) feet away from the gate. Emergency access control devices are exempt from this requirement.
  
  
• The gate operator is appropriate for the construction and class of the gate.
  
  
• Rollers are guarded.
  
  
• Pinch points are eliminated or guarded.
  
  
• All openings in slide gate systems are guarded or screened from the bottom of the gate to a minimum of 72 inches above the ground, to prevent a 2.25-inch diameter sphere from passing through the openings anywhere in the gate, and in that portion of the adjacent fence that the gate covers in the open position.
  
  
• Refer to ASTM F2200 for more information on the construction of the gate and associated hazards.

You should never install, or have installed on your property, a vehicular gate operator that does not carry the “MARK” of a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) such as ETL, MET, or UL. This assures you that the gate operator has been tested by an independent third-party testing laboratory and has met all the safety requirements of the UL 325 safety standard.