Andrew Adrizzi
News Reporter
Automatic doors intended to provide access for students and faculty with disabilities are being mistreated and abused, said the Facilities and Disability Services.
“There’s a real issue when looking at door openers within the college,” said manager of maintenance and operations at North Campus, David Griffin.
First-year general arts and scienes student , Boleu Fowodu, 18, is upset people misuse automatic doors
“We have occasions where the buttons don’t work because somebody booted them or smashed them,” said Griffin.
If students and faculty who do n
ot need the automated function keep using it, the life expectancy of the device is shortened and the maintenance is increased due to overuse and mishandling, he said.
Manager of maintenance and operations at Lakeshore Campus, Spencer Wood, said there is a similar problem on Lakeshore.
“One of the things is people pressing the button when they’re quite capable of opening the door themselves,” said Wood. “The other is sometimes people kick the buttons.”
He said just Monday a student in a wheelchair tried to use an automatic door opener, but when he pushed the button the door didn’t open.
The student had to wait for someone to pass by to come and open the door for him, Wood said. Maintenance on the door operators ranges from $1500-$3000 depending on the severity of the damage, while a full replacement costs $5000, he said.
Wood said at Lakeshore in the last year he could remember three incidences where the whole motor and board were broken in the door device.
“Even if we get on it right away, there’s going to be a period of time where the door openers will not be available for someone who really needs it,” said Wood.
First-year general arts and sciences student, Boleu Fowodu, 18, who uses a motorized cart due to a disability and depends on the automated doors said, “It’s not fair, they shouldn’t really use them,” about people that don’t need the automatic door function.
In total there are about 90 automatic door operators across Humber campuses, with about 40 to 50 at North Campus, 30 to 35 on Lakeshore, and one or two at Orangeville.
If people don’t speak up or get involved, then abuse of the device will continue, said Griffin.
[...] http://humberetc.com/2010/02/24/misuse-of-automatic-doors-slams-school-with-high-repair-cost/ [...]