Do barriers meet safety standards?

There are surely serious questions about whether new ticket barriers meet safety standards in view of the warning posters being put up at stations by Fist Capital Connect (see earlier blogs). The Railway Group Standards on automatic ticket gates (guidelines that rail companies are supposed to follow, issued in 2003 say the following:

"The station operator shall ensure that the:

• design of the ATGs enables passengers to pass through them without injury (including injury caused by electric shock)
• ATGs are designed to open in the event of equipment failure
• manually operated auxiliary gates are designed to release in the event of equipment failure
• ATG equipment is configured such that the contact forces exerted by thegates do not cause injury to passengers."

The standards go on to state:

"The sensors provided within the ATG mechanism should ensure that, when a gate has been opened to enable a person to pass through, it does not close until that person has passed safely through the ATG. There should be no opportunity for the person to become trapped or for the gate to close on the person and so cause possible injury. The sensors should also detect that the area swept by an opening gate is clear before the gate can open. This should not apply if the emergency open facility is activated.

The design of the ATGs should also enable people to pass through without injury, for example by trapped fingers or limbs, or injury to the heads of smallchildren."

Not sure how all of that fits in with FCC's warning poster saying that children could face "serious injury". As well as children, there have also been instances of dogs, bicycles and luggage becoming trapped.