Key Takeaways
- In any hospital environment, making sure door handles are in peak condition is essential
- That means making sure door handles are kept clean, efficient, and smooth to operate
- Due to regular use, door handles in hospital wards can wear out quicker than expected
- Install heavy-duty, stainless steel, high-tension door handle springs for greater longevity
- Have maintenance staff carry out regular inspections to ensure issues are fixed ASAP
In a hospital environment, making sure access to wards and patient rooms is essential, right? That’s why you need to have high-quality door handle springs. The springs in your handles may not be seen, but they are imperative to making sure doors operate smoothly.
In fact, experts at UK door furniture specialists Locks & Hardware highly recommend upgrading door handle springs ASAP.
Why? In this guide, we’ll give you a clear insight into why Locks & Hardware staff focus on handle springs. Spring mechanisms play a crucial role in making sure your door handles work as needed, making it easier for staff and patients alike to enter and exit rooms, as well as ensuring exiting the hospital is as easy as possible in the event of an emergency.
Door Handle Springs Need To Be Consistently Reliable
Now, we understand that focusing so much on door handle springs might seem like an oddity. However, it’s often the little parts we cannot see that cause the most headaches!
While that can certainly be the case, door handle springs need to be kept in perfect working order. The main reasons for this include:
- Ease of Access. Making sure that staff and patients can easily enter the hospital ward and other areas of the hospital is key. If door handles are continually sticking to broken, worn-down or damaged door handle springs, entering rooms becomes more difficult than it needs to be.
- Continual Usage.As you might imagine, hospital doors are used far more regularly than your usual doors. While the door handle springs in your house might last for longer, wear and tear on ward doors is more common. They need regular maintenance to keep them working.
- Hospital Hygiene.If doors need to be continually forced open, it means a greater risk of germs spreading. In a well-operating door with effective door handle springs, the door opens without any force being applied. It also ensures cleaning staff can focus on the handles when they are cleaning the hospital, as this is usually the only part of the door that is being touched.
Reliability is everything in hospital doors. Doors that start to stick or jam can leave medical staff stuck when time is of the essence. It can also get in the way of staff moving around the hospital, guests getting to see patients, or even patients moving around the building.
Therefore, it is imperative that your door handles are kept in good condition and full working order. That often means focusing on improving the internal mechanisms of the handles, including the door handle springs. How do you pick the right handle springs for hospital doors, though? What matters?
Choosing The Perfect Hospital Ward Door Handle Springs
Most of the time, a door handle spring is nothing more than a thick coil of metal. It should be around 2-3mm in thickness. We would recommend trying 2mm, 2.5mm and 3mm coils in your handles. You may find that previous door handle springs were not thick enough, creating excessive play and making handles feel loose. Or, you may find previous springs were too thick, making the door jam.
You should therefore try out different thicknesses of door handle spring to make sure you find the right thickness. Another important factor is the tension; you want high-tension door handle springs for ward doors. Make sure that any replacement door handle springs you buy are marked as high-tension.
Also, be sure to buy stainless steel door handle springs. These are designed for facilities like hospitals as stainless steel is easy to clean and sterilise. It is also far less likely to rust or wear away, and still has high levels of durability. As such, it’s far less likely to wear out anytime soon.
The best thing you can do is to find hospital ward doors that work perfectly. Then, open up the door handles and have a look at the type of door handle springs they use; you can then use that as the reference for future purchases and replacements. So long as they are stainless steel, high-tension door handle springs, they should be ideal.
When Should You Replace Hospital Door, Handle Springs?
Of course, you also now need to know when you should consider replacing your door handle springs.
- Really, you should think about inspecting door handle springs as soon as they start acting up.
- That means if you notice a door handle is overly stiff or loose, you should inspect the handle.
- Remove the handle and check the springs; are they worn out? Misaligned? Broken? Rusty?
- Handles that do not return to their usual position after usage will likely require maintenance
As soon as you spot any problems with a door handle sticking or jamming, inspect the full handle. It may be that the door handle springs are fine, but the handle itself has worn away or broken. Or, it could be that the spring needs to be replaced with the kind of high-quality alternatives mentioned.
Make A Habit Of Checking Door Handle Springs For Hospital Doors
Hopefully, you can now see both the importance of checking door handle springs and replacing them when they stop working. Remember to take action as soon as a problem emerges: proactivity, not reactivity, is essential here!
Do not wait until a staff member gets stuck behind a door that won’t open properly. Do not hold off on door adjustments until a patient gets hurt trying to open a door that jams. Instead, have door handles checked on a regular basis.
We would recommend that your maintenance team arrange a regular schedule to review your hospital doors. This is especially important during peak periods of use. Also, it would be wise to keep a close eye on the most commonly used doors, such as in your busiest hospital wards.
Avoid delaying replacements or handling maintenance if you can. The quicker you replace damaged springs, the sooner you can fix the issue and restore normal function to your doorways – that means fewer complaints, easier movement around the hospital, and greater peace of mind for everyone!
