Your Guide To Shutter Maintenance For Retailers

When you are running a busy business, you may not give much thought to your roller shutter maintenance. It can be easy to forget about them because they are such hardwearing and reliable pieces of essential equipment.

However, your shutters are so essential to the safety of your business and your staff’s protection, that you shouldn’t ignore their upkeep.

Installing industrial roller shutters is a perfect way to safeguard your retail premises and provide you, your staff, and visitors with a safe and secure way to enter and exit your building.

They are your first line of defence against would-be opportunistic thieves who always think twice about breaking into a commercial property fitted with sturdy and protective roller shutter security doors.

In this guide, we look at why roller shutter door maintenance should be a priority for your business and how to keep them working efficiently to give you many years of excellent service.

Why Is It So Important To Maintain Your Shutters?

If you are concerned about protecting your business premises against unwanted criminal activity and the safety of your staff and anyone visiting your premises, then keeping your shutter door openings well maintained should never be an afterthought.

Surprisingly, something as simple as a build-up of dust, dirt and grime can seriously affect your roller shutter performance and could even cause frustrating malfunctions that could be avoided by simply keeping your roller shutters clean and regularly serviced.

Some of the main issues business owners experience from poorly maintained roller shutter doors include the doors becoming stuck open or closed, or even closing suddenly on top of people or damaging vehicles as they enter or exit your building.

Not only is having malfunctioning shutters frustrating, but it could also cost you a lot of time and money with loss of productivity because you and your staff, or customers, cannot access your premises.

You are also legally obliged to ensure your shutter doors are operational, especially if your staff frequently uses them.

In many cases, your roller shutter doors may also act as your fire doors and emergency exits. Your fire shutter maintenance becomes even more of a priority, if you don’t want to end in breach of fire safety regulations!

How To Maintain Your Retail Shutters

Here we share some simple tips to help maintain and care for your roller shutter doors, which will help them remain reliable and functional for years to come.

• Clean Roller Shutters Regularly:

  You should aim to clean your roller shutters at least once every three months. It is easy for dead leaves and other debris to get trapped in the guide the shutters run along. This is easy to clear dirt build-up using a sweeping brush and a dustpan to collect the debris. Using a hand brush, you can clean dust out of ventilation holes, tracks, and from between slats. The face of your shutters can be kept free of grime and fingerprints by washing them down with warm soapy water.

• Check The Mechanisms Monthly:

  General wear and tear can take its toll on roller shutter moving parts. Over time the mechanisms can become stiff or damaged, so make it a habit to check the mechanisms at least once per month. If you spot any damage or worn parts, have them replaced ASAP to ensure your shutter doors keep on working reliably.

• Check The Guide Rails & Bearings:

  Your shutter door moving parts must be well oiled to help prevent rust from corroding the metal parts. Make sure you oil the guide rails and bearing at least once per year, or even every six months, if your roller shutter doors are used on a daily basis.

• Don’t Slam Your Shutters:

  It can be a great feeling to slam your manually operated shutter doors closed at the end of the day. However, resist the temptation to slam your doors close, as the impact and vibration caused by slamming your shutter doors can loosen screws and bolts, which can weaken your doors or cause them to fall apart.

Have Your Shutters Balance Checked At Least Twice A Year

One final task you should schedule on your calendar to keep your roller shutter doors operating efficiently is to call in a professional to conduct a balance check every six months.

This is an essential health and safety check that you need to ensure your shutter doors are functioning correctly. It checks that your doors can be stopped mid-roll at any point to help prevent accidents such as doors closing on a person or doors crushing any stock you are loading or unloading from a vehicle.

While roller shutter doors are excellent at keeping out bad weather and protecting your business premises from the elements, the British weather can throw some harsh conditions at your shutter doors. Severe weather can rattle nuts and bolts loose and cause internal deterioration.

The last thing you want is for your roller shutter doors to fail mid-use, causing an accident or damage to your stock or property.

Commercial building insurance considerations

Having your business premises covered by commercial building insurance is essential for significant peace of mind should severe damage occur to your building. But what about your roller shutter doors?

When you think about it, your staff and visitors are at more risk of being harmed or injured by your roller shutter doors that they enter and exit every day than your building. Taking out the right commercial building insurance that also covers your shutter doors will not only add to your peace of mind but also reassure your staff and visitors that you take their safety seriously.

We cannot stress how important it is to keep on top of your roller shutter door maintenance to help avoid common risks posed by malfunctioning doors. Should anything happen with your doors that causes loss or injury to your staff, customers or visitors, you may be liable to pay vast sums of money in legal fees and compensation.

Our team at Brisco Business Insurance know that every UK business is unique. This is why you need a business insurance policy built from with the cover you require to protect your business, including having cover in place, if you run a factory, warehouse, or premises with roller shutter doors installed.

Conclusion

There are all kinds of benefits to installing roller shutter doors on your business premises. You don’t need to run a factory or warehouse to reap these doors’ protection benefits.

Having working roller shutter doors installed on your building can also help lower your business insurance premiums, saving you and your company a lot of money over the lifetime of your roller shutter doors.

However, taking good care of your shutter doors is essential, if you want them to perform well and have a long, trouble-free life. This is why we recommend you schedule some regular maintenance checks and tasks that you can do yourself or bring in a professional to handle on your behalf.

You will be so glad you took the time to maintain your roller shutter doors, as they can be one of your most valuable business investments. At Brisco, we can help you compare business insurance quotes from top providers and find the policy that works best for you.

Maria Hickey

For more than 20 years, Maria has worked in the insurance sector and has extensive underwriting and customer service expertise. Maria is an experienced Senior Underwriter with a particular specialism for shop, office and surgery related insurance.

All articles by Maria Hickey