Miami International Airport Installs Larco Mats to Ensure Safety

For those who enjoy people watching, the Miami International Airport could be paradise. With more than 44 million passengers each year, it is one of the busiest airports in the United States.

To better accommodate the masses, the MIA is continually evalutaing its need for facility updates, new technology, and improved safety equipment. Dash Door & Closer, based in Miami, has been servicing the automatic doors at the Miami International Airport since 1956. The company has been involved in several of the airport's expansion projects over the years, including improvements to the bus terminal and a $4.8 billion concourse expanision project that began in 2006.

An important part of this expansion and renovation project was the installation of more than 200 new pairs of doors on the front of the new concourse, inside the concourse and at access points to jet ways. In addition, the airport specified about 300 activation/safety mats to be placed inside and outside the auomatic doors.

Welcoming Travelers with Safety & Efficiency

Jeff Steiner of Dash Door and Closer worked alongside Miami Airport personnel on this large door installation project. According to Steiner, the airport authority specified mats on all of the new automatic doors for a variety of reasons including safety, ease of maintenance, and efficiency.

"If you can get a person to use mats, without exaggeration, you will cut lawsuits by 90 percent," says Steiner. "Our record in that department with the Miami International Airport has been excellent. If you were to compare the lawsuits at MIA against any similarly large airport, you would see a dramatic difference."

In addition to the tremendous safety benefits that the Miami Airport has realized by their decision to use mats, Steiner says that efficency is also important. Unlike sensors, which use infra-red light reflection technology, mats eliminate "ghostings," or false activations caused by shadows, light, weather, and other unpredicatable factors.

"The whole trick with automatic doors is to be efficient and safe, and that's what mats give you," Steiner says. "They are very efficient and stop phantom activations when a lot of people are milling around, which saves air conditioning and heat."

Steiner adds that the longevity of mats has been an important factor as well. Compared to other types of sensing devices, Steiner say smats are "unbelievable" and points to several mats installed at MIA that have been there more than 20 years and are still functioning flawlessly.

The Miami International Airport uses Larco mats to activate automatic doors allowing customers safe and easy access to their facility. Visit our Automatic Door Mat section for more product information.

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