As the powered pedestrian door and entrance control sector adapts to changing technologies, broader product applications and a greater focus on user vulnerability, one familiar British Standard is set to assume an increasingly important role. Darren Hyde, Head of Technical at the Automatic Door Suppliers Association (ADSA), explains why the revised BS 7036 will put risk assessment firmly at the heart of safe specification, installation and operation.
For many within the powered pedestrian door industry, BS EN 16005 has long been the standard most readily associated with safety. It establishes safety-in-use requirements and test methods for powered pedestrian doors, while BS EN 17352 performs a similar role for powered pedestrian entrance control equipment such as speed lanes and turnstiles.
But meeting the requirements of a product standard is only part of the picture.
Both these standards require risk assessment in line with BS EN ISO 12100 - incorporating safety of machinery, general principles for design, risk assessment and risk reduction. It sets out a generic machinery risk-assessment framework while BS 7036 applies that thinking specifically to pedestrian door and entrance systems in the UK.
This distinction matters because meeting the minimum safeguarding requirements of the relevant product standard does not, in itself, establish that an installation is appropriate for every foreseeable user. The application-specific risk assessment must consider the people who could encounter the system, the environment in which it operates and the potential consequences of contact.
Increasingly, the challenge is understanding how a door or entrance system will actually be used, who will use it and what risks arise within its particular environment. That is where BS 7036 comes into its own.
Currently being revised, BS 7036 provides the UK code of practice for risk assessment and risk reduction. Its new scope will encompass powered pedestrian doors conforming to BS EN 16005, powered pedestrian entrance control equipment conforming to BS EN 17352 including manually operated revolving doors and turnstiles. It provides guidance on hazard analysis and risk assessment for everyone from suppliers and installers to specifiers, property owners and duty holders.
For Darren Hyde, ADSA's Head of Technical and a member of the standards committees helping to shape the industry's technical framework, this represents an important shift in emphasis.
“The product standards tell us the safety requirements that systems need to meet, but BS 7036 helps us apply those requirements to the real environment in which a door or entrance system is being used. That's becoming increasingly important because risk isn't determined by the product alone - it's about the application, the users and the potential consequences if something goes wrong.”
That distinction is particularly important at specification stage. BS 7036 places emphasis on establishing predicted user characteristics and precise operational requirements, including the volume and type of pedestrian traffic likely to use an installation. It also calls for a full hazard analysis and risk assessment so that the final installation is safe for all foreseeable users. In practice, this means safety cannot be considered solely at the point of installation: the risk assessment needs to inform decisions from specification onwards.
GEZE UK
From Numbers to Consequences
One of the most significant developments concerns the way vulnerability and high-risk applications are considered.
Under the previous approach, an environment might typically have been considered high risk where a large proportion of users were vulnerable – a hospital or care home being obvious examples.
BSI's rationale for the revision highlights the change introduced by BS EN 16005:2023: assessment is moving away from simply considering the proportion of vulnerable users towards considering who could use the door and the consequences of contact.
This includes people with “reduced mental, physical or sensory capabilities”, whose needs may affect (even on a temporary basis) their ability to use or respond to a powered entrance safely. As a result, powered pedestrian doors in more general traffic areas should be regarded as high risk where previously they might not have been.
Darren explains: “The important question is no longer simply, ‘Is this a building predominantly used by vulnerable people?’ We have to consider whether a vulnerable person could reasonably use that entrance and what the consequences could be.
“That changes the conversation. A door doesn't become lower risk simply because most of the people passing through it are fit and able. The risk assessment has to consider those users who may be more susceptible to injury and make sure appropriate safeguards are in place.”
The revised definitions sharpen that distinction. A high-risk scenario is one in which a vulnerable person could be using the door system; a low-risk scenario is a controlled environment in which all users are not defined as vulnerable.
ADSA believes this is likely to mean that virtually all powered pedestrian doors in general traffic areas will need to be treated as high risk. For powered systems, this has a direct consequence for safeguarding: in high-risk scenarios, measures should applied to prevent users from coming into contact with the moving door or system.
A Much Broader Standard
The revised BS 7036 also reflects how much the entrance sector itself has changed.
When ADSA helped develop the industry's original code of practice, which subsequently formed the basis of BS 7036:1988, the focus was powered pedestrian doors. Today, entrances increasingly incorporate speed lanes, powered turnstiles, access control and other technologies as part of integrated building systems.
The new BS 7036 therefore expands beyond powered pedestrian doors to provide risk-assessment guidance for entrance control equipment covered by BS EN 17352, as well as manually operated revolving doors and turnstiles. ADSA's own material on the consultation describes the revision as strengthening guidance around user vulnerability, risk assessment and safety.
That expansion is particularly significant because BS EN 17352 itself excludes certain uses involving vulnerable people, people with special needs and unsupervised children under eight from its scope. The revised BS 7036 is intended to provide additional practical risk-assessment guidance around these environments.
“Entrance technology has moved on considerably and the boundaries between different systems are less obvious than they once were,” says Darren. “We now have powered doors, speed lanes, turnstiles and access control working together within the same entrance environment.
“What BS 7036 gives us is a common risk-assessment approach. Instead of looking at each product in isolation, we can consider how people interact with the complete entrance and make decisions based on the risks presented in that particular application.”
dormakaba UK
From Compliance to Competence
For today's specifiers and technicians, knowing the standards cannot simply mean memorising a set of dimensions and assuming that makes every installation safe. They increasingly need to understand the standards, identify hazards, assess the particular environment and make a competent judgement about the appropriate risk-reduction measures.
This mirrors ADSA's approach to certification renewal, where candidates are encouraged to return to the standards and find answers rather than simply memorise information. The approach is intended to strengthen technical knowledge against the backdrop of the Building Safety Act and the industry's increasing focus on competence.
Adds Darren: “Compliance isn't a tick-box exercise. Two apparently identical doors can present very different risks depending on where they're installed and who is using them. Competence is about being able to recognise those differences, undertake the appropriate risk assessment and apply the standards correctly.”
What Does This Mean in Practice?
The significance of that approach becomes clearer when considering how seemingly straightforward entrance applications can present very different risks.
Consider a powered pedestrian door in a commercial office. At first glance, it may appear a relatively straightforward application, serving predominantly independently mobile adults. But its users will not be uniform.
Visitors may include older people, children or those with reduced mobility, impaired vision or other vulnerabilities, e.g. the affects of temporary medication. Risk assessment therefore needs to look beyond the predominant user profile and consider who could reasonably encounter the door – and the potential consequences of contact.
The same principle becomes even more pronounced in a healthcare or care environment. Here, users may move more slowly, use walking aids or wheelchairs, have impaired awareness or require assistance. A door system that may present an acceptable level of risk in one setting could require additional risk-reduction measures in another.
“The technology may be the same, but the environment and the people using it can be completely different,” says Darren. “That is why risk assessment has to be specific to the application. We need to consider how people will approach and move through the entrance, where hazards could arise and the severity of the potential consequences.”
The expanding scope of BS 7036 also brings that thinking to entrance control equipment such as speed lanes and powered turnstiles.
These systems are increasingly integrated with access control and other technologies, often within busy reception areas and transport, commercial or public environments. While BS EN 17352 provides the relevant product safety requirements, the wider assessment must consider how the equipment interacts with the people and environment around it.
That might include passenger flow, unfamiliar users, tailgating, luggage or mobility aids, as well as the possibility of children or vulnerable people encountering equipment that was principally designed for a different user profile. This is particularly relevant given the limitations within BS EN 17352 around certain vulnerable users – one of the areas the revised BS 7036 is intended to help address.
For Darren, this demonstrates why looking at individual products in isolation is no longer enough.
“Whether we are considering a powered door, speed lane or turnstile, the starting point has to be the same: who is going to use it, how are they going to use it and what are the foreseeable risks?
“Standards provide the framework, but it takes competent assessment to apply that framework appropriately to the real world.”
GEZE UK
Raising the Standard on Risk
None of this diminishes the importance of BS EN 16005 or BS EN 17352. Both remain fundamental to establishing the safety requirements that powered pedestrian doors and entrance control equipment must meet.
What is changing is the emphasis placed on understanding how those products perform within their specific application.
As entrance technology becomes more sophisticated and the industry develops a better understanding of vulnerability and foreseeable risk, knowing that a product complies with the relevant standard is no longer the end of the conversation.
BS 7036 provides the bridge between product requirements and their practical application – bringing together the equipment, environment, users and potential consequences within a structured approach to risk assessment and risk reduction.
For ADSA, that means BS 7036 should be considered throughout the life of an installation - from specification and design through installation, commissioning, operation and subsequent review. Specifiers, installers, occupiers, property owners, duty holders and other stakeholders all have a part to play in ensuring that foreseeable users and risks are considered, rather than treating risk assessment as an exercise carried out only at the point of installation.
Darren concludes: “BS EN 16005 and BS EN 17352 remain absolutely fundamental, but increasingly we need to be just as confident in how we apply them.
“That is where BS 7036 becomes so important. It takes us beyond asking whether a product meets the standard and makes us consider whether the complete installation is appropriate and safe for the people who will actually use it.”
Preparing for Change With publication of the revised BS 7036 expected later this year, ADSA will continue to support the industry in understanding the changes and what they mean in practice. British Standards Institute (BSI) will also be hosting webinars around the launch to highlight changes covered by the standard.
Architects or specifiers currently working on building designs with automated entrance solutions should apply BS 7036:2026 amendments within their plans.
ADSA members can access technical guidance and standards support through its academy, alongside training and professional development courses designed to help ensure knowledge keeps pace with changing requirements.
To find out more about ADSA membership, visit
www.adsa.org.uk
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