Finger entrapment in doors can result in serious injuries that have long term effects such as amputation, or in less severe cases, require significant hospital treatment. Preventing such injuries is therefore important. Finger trap protection should be installed in all hinged or pivoted door situations whereby users can potentially get fingers caught between the door and the frame, all public areas including shops, hotels and sports centres should be reviewed for potential risks.
Areas of particular concern include:
Schools or child care centres. Children suffer a disproportionate number of finger entrapment injuries because of their lack of understanding of the dangers presented by doors, young children may put their fingers into the gap between a door and its frame without any awareness of the possible consequences.
Homes or residential facilities for the aged or disabled. Those, particularly with walking difficulties often use the door frame as a support when negotiating a doorway and inadvertently put fingers into the jamb, this is especially true of those doors fitted with door closers
Where automatic swing doors are fitted, it is a requirement of BS EN 16005 that fingertrap protection be used at the hanging stile(s) of the doorset.