Locking the disconnect on a door operator isn't the whole lockout. A commercial overhead door also stores energy in its springs and in its own weight. Here is how WorkSafeBC's lockout rules apply to overhead doors, and a written procedure you can adapt for your site.
Maintenance staff work on overhead doors more than people realize: wiping photo eyes, greasing rollers, clearing a jammed pallet out of the track. Under WorkSafeBC’s rules most of that counts as maintenance, and maintenance triggers lockout. Most site lockout procedures we see, including many that claim to cover an overhead door lockout procedure, were written for conveyors and compressors and miss the part of a door that actually hurts people.
Why an overhead door needs its own lockout procedure
Part 10 of the BC Occupational Health and Safety Regulation defines an energy source as any electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal or other source of energy of potential harm to workers. On a commercial overhead door, that covers more than the operator:
| Energy on a commercial door | Where it is | Does the disconnect isolate it? |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | Operator, controls, accessories. Commercial operators run on anything from 115 V single-phase to 575 V three-phase | Yes, once locked and verified |
| Stored mechanical (springs) | Torsion or extension springs, the counterbalance shaft and cables | No |
| Gravity | The weight of the door itself, especially when open or part-open | No |
| Manual drive | Chain hoists and hand chains | Not on its own |
The door industry is blunt about the spring side. The Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association (DASMA) warns that a rolling door counterbalance assembly is under extreme spring tension at all times. LiftMaster’s Logic 5.0 manual says all repairs to cables, spring assemblies and related hardware, all of which are under extreme tension, must be made by an authorized service technician. Our door weight reference gives a sense of the mass involved on large sectional doors.
What Part 10 requires
The parts of Part 10 that matter most at a door:
- 10.1, the definition of maintenance: work to keep equipment in a safe operating condition, including installing, repairing, cleaning, lubricating and the clearing of obstructions. Greasing rollers, cleaning a photo eye lens or pulling debris out of a track all count.
- 10.2: if unexpected startup or release of an energy source could cause injury, the energy source must be isolated and effectively controlled.
- 10.3(1): when equipment is shut down for maintenance, no work may be done until (a) all parts and attachments have been secured against inadvertent movement, (b) any energy hazard the work exposes workers to has been effectively controlled, and (c) the energy isolating devices are locked out.
- 10.4(3) and (4): combination locks must not be used for lockout, and each personal lock must be marked or tagged to identify who applied it.
- 10.6(2): before starting work, the worker must verify that all energy sources have been effectively locked out.
Part 10 also defines lockout as using locks to make equipment inoperable or isolate energy in accordance with a written procedure. So the procedure has to be written down, not just known.
The door counts as an “attachment” that must be secured
Section 10.3(1)(a) is the one door procedures usually miss. Locking the operator’s disconnect stops the motor. It doesn’t stop a door that is out of balance, or a door with a broken spring, from moving under its own weight. Securing the door against inadvertent movement means doing the work with the door fully closed wherever possible. If it must be open, it has to be mechanically held in position by a method the door technician or manufacturer approves.
A sample overhead door lockout procedure (for routine staff tasks)
Adapt this to your site and your door and operator manuals. It is for routine maintenance staff tasks only. Spring, cable, drum and bottom-bracket work is not on the list.
- Close the door fully using the normal controls, and check it is resting on the floor.
- Tell people nearby, and block off the door from both sides.
- Isolate the operator at its disconnect switch (or the breaker named in your procedure). Apply your personal lock and tag, never a combination lock.
- Verify: try the wall station, remote and any automatic inputs such as loops or timer-to-close. Nothing should move. Section 10.6(2) requires this check.
- Deal with manual drives. If the operator has a chain hoist, leave the hoist disengaged and the hand chain secured so the door can’t be chained up during the work.
- Look before you touch. If you see a gapped or broken spring, frayed or slack cable, or a bottom bracket pulling away, stop. That’s no longer a staff task.
- Do the task: cleaning, lubricating per the manual, clearing the obstruction.
- Restore: remove tools, check the opening is clear, remove your own lock (only the person who applied it may remove it, under 10.8), and run the door through a full cycle while watching it. Test the safety devices.
Where staff work ends and technician work begins
A good test for your procedure is whether the task changes how the door is held up. If it does, it’s technician work.
- Staff, with lockout: cleaning photo eye lenses, wiping tracks, lubricating where the manual allows, clearing debris, replacing a wall-station cover, visual checks. Our operator maintenance checklist lists typical items.
- Technician only: anything on springs, cables, drums, bottom brackets or the counterbalance shaft, spring tension adjustment, and track or hanger repairs that hold the door’s weight. DASMA tells building staff not to adjust a rolling door’s tension wheel. Book commercial spring repair or cable repair.
- Licensed electrical work: changing operator wiring or supply circuits is regulated electrical work in BC and needs the right contractor and permit.
Common overhead door lockout procedure mistakes
- Treating the hoist interlock as lockout. LiftMaster’s manual says the electrical interlock disables the controls when the hoist is used. That’s a control function, not a locked energy-isolating device.
- Turning off the wall station’s “off” key. A key switch on a control station doesn’t isolate the supply.
- Working under an open door. LiftMaster’s manual says no one should go under a stopped or partly open door.
- No door in the written procedure. If the site’s lockout list covers every machine but not the overhead doors, the doors still fall under Part 10.
If you want your door procedure checked against the actual operators on site, we can review it during a preventive maintenance visit. For dock positions, see our post on WorkSafeBC loading dock requirements.
Questions property managers ask us
Does WorkSafeBC lockout apply to overhead doors?
Yes. Part 10 applies to machinery and equipment shut down for maintenance, and it defines maintenance to include installing, repairing, cleaning, lubricating and clearing obstructions. A powered overhead door is covered.
Is locking the operator disconnect enough?
No. That isolates the electrical energy, but section 10.3(1) also requires parts and attachments to be secured against inadvertent movement. On a door that means dealing with spring energy and the door’s own weight, usually by working with the door fully closed.
Can my maintenance staff adjust door springs if they lock out first?
No. Lockout doesn’t remove spring tension. DASMA and LiftMaster both say spring and cable work is for trained or authorized technicians because those parts are under extreme tension at all times.
Can we use a combination lock for lockout?
No. Section 10.4(3) says combination locks must not be used for lockout. Each personal lock must also be marked or tagged to identify the person who applied it.
Does the chain hoist interlock count as lockout?
No. The interlock disables the operator’s controls while the hoist is engaged, but it is not a locked energy-isolating device. Lock out the disconnect as well.
Book a look at your doors
Call (604) 206-5727 or use the contact page. We answer around the clock for commercial door failures. New commercial clients: 10% off labour on your first service call or repair. Mention NEW10 when booking (one per business, not combinable with maintenance-contract pricing, work booked by Dec 31, 2026).
