Push comes to shove for Louisiana gate installers

BATON ROUGE, La., Jan. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For the Gulf South Chapter of the American Fence Association (AFA), 2023 will put a spotlight on education for the gate installing industry. Sources within the southern chapter cite an internal announcement late last year by the chapter president, Mike Gulledge, who indicates that the Louisiana Fire Marshal's office will at long last put a focus on education when it comes to the installation and inspection of commercial and residential gate operators. 

Beginning in 2023, the Louisiana Fire Marshal's office will now formally require more training for their personnel on the UL325 life safety standard and the ASTM F2200 automation standard to ensure that they are properly inspecting gate systems for noncompliance.

According to Susan Worley, branch manager of SAS Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Fire Marshal's office will also be attempting to involve engineers to prevent operator noncompliance issues at the outset of new projects. In a recently released My Fence Life podcast episode, Worley discusses the newly changed requirements with podcast host Dan Blanc of Fence King. Blanc emphasizes the importance of this training for project engineers as it relieves a burden for licensed installers, who in the past have had to "go behind" and clean up the mistakes of not only project engineers but unqualified installers whose licensing have not been verified.

This newfound formal enforcement by the Louisiana Fire Marshal's office of licensing for commercial and residential installers should also return work to those who have been properly trained to install such operators all along. However, this will lead to an influx of unlicensed installers who are now in need of education- widening the gap for leading providers of dealer and installer education such as Southwest Automated Security to step in and step up when it comes to organizing routine training.

Interested in accessing more training and education from licensed education providers like Southwest Automated Security? Visit https://www.southwestautomated.com/events to check out upcoming events and training at one of 19 locations near you.

SOURCE Southwest Automated Security

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