aloa.org December 2024 Keynotes 31 Who Controls the Automatic Door Operator industry? You should be familiar with American Association of Automatic Door Manu- facturers (AAADM). The information below was taken directly from the AAADM website: 1. As a prerequisite to taking the AAADM Certified Inspector Training Program, a candidate must be an individ- ual who has a) worked in the automatic pedestrian door industry for 6 months immediately preceding the application for an AAADM training course or b) worked in the automatic pedestrian door industry for at least 90 days immediately preceding the application for an AAADM training course and has taken the factory training course of an AAADM member. An individual who has worked in the automatic pedestrian door industry is directly employed by a company in the industry that sells, services, or installs automatic pedestrian doors that comply with ANSI/BHMA A156.10 as its primary business or a person employed by an AAADM member company or a company with a current distribution agreement with an AAADM Full Member company to sell full power operated doors that com- ply with ANSI/BHMA A156.10. Individuals directly employed by end users, including but not limited to the following, are not eligible to be certified: facility maintenance for retail, health- care, hospitality, education, government, and building owners. However, these indi- viduals can audit the course. 2. AAADM defines “primary business” as follows: A distributor of automatic pedestrian door products, not only hardware, for an AAADM Full Member Company, and A company that derives over 50% of its business from selling, installing, and/or servicing full-power automatic pedestrian door products that comply with ANSI / BHMA A156.10. In a nutshell, institutional locksmiths can only be certified by AAADM if they work in the automatic door industry as their primary business. The above is the prerequisite for inspectors and installers. I understand this. Certification is closed to their sector only. Where Does That Leave You As a Caretaker? As an example, your institution has 400 buildings, with an average of six opera- tors per building — around 2,400 oper- ators campus-wide. In addition, there is a set of two handicap door activation switches per operator, equaling 4,800 total. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the switches see the most action and need constant repair. Also, the batteries operating push activation switches need to be changed regularly. Perhaps yours are hard-wired, which is always good. We went to a kinetic button that does not need batteries. It is well worth the price and effort to upgrade. Finding a Hardware Distributor Now, you find yourself in a difficult sit- uation because most companies that sell new operators and replacement parts only deal with AAADM-certified cus- tomers. I say most, but not all. I found a very helpful hardware sup- plier that would sell to my institution, knowing we were not AAADM certified. Please understand that all the repair work was going to be on low-energy power operators, not sliding or revolving doors, where there would be more liability issues involved. I had a meeting with our risk management folks and got their blessing. Where to Get Training for Our Team This may be tricky. I was fortunate enough to ask the hardware distributor from whom we were buying the parts if they would train my team as a con- sultive sales initiative. The approach was a win-win. I scheduled work to be done on-site at the job site. The trainer from the hardware distributor walked our folks through the repair. We even brought some of our electricians in for the training. The training paid for itself. We would have had to have a contractor to repair it anyway. Whether your institution does the ADA-compliant work in-house or con- tracts it out, we must all agree that it is important to maintain the functionality of the operators and paddles for those who need it most. I am proud that our role as institu- tional locksmiths supports the Amer- icans With Disabilities Act. The ADA has had a major impact on people with disabilities over the years. Access to public buildings has broken down many barriers, improving the quality of life for millions. Steve Fryman, CRL, CAI, CISM, AFDI, is a second-generation locksmith with over 45 years of experience. He has been a business owner for 20 years and is currently working at Florida State University as a key compliance manager. Steve is a subject matter expert in institutional shop management. We have spent millions of dollars over the years maintaining our automatic doors.
