Background: Safety Standards, PLs, and Automatic Doors
Understanding the Difference Between Performance Level C and D in Automatic Door Safety
When it comes to automatic door safety, understanding the difference between Performance Level (PL) C and PL D is key to ensuring compliance and proper risk management.
The Standards Behind Safety
Automatic doors must comply with EN 16005, the European standard that governs the safety of power-operated pedestrian doors. This standard ensures protection against hazards such as crushing, shearing, impact, and drawing-in.
To achieve this, safety functions—like sensor detection, door monitoring, stopping, and reversing—must meet specific Performance Levels (PL) as defined in EN ISO 13849-1. These levels, ranging from PL a (lowest) to PL e (highest), define how reliably a safety function performs under fault conditions. The higher the PL, the more robust the system’s fault tolerance and diagnostic capabilities must be.
Performance Level C (PL C)
PL C is the typical requirement for standard pedestrian door installations.
When configured correctly—using approved wiring, monitoring, and redundancy—sensors certified to PL C provide the appropriate level of safety for everyday environments such as offices, retail spaces, and public buildings.
Performance Level D (PL D)
PL D represents a higher level of safety integrity. It’s required where the consequences of a failure could pose greater risk—such as escape route doors, emergency exits, or areas where people’s safety depends on the door’s correct operation.
According to EN 16005, all automatic doors used on escape and rescue routes must meet PL D.
How to Know What You’re Using
We make it easy to identify compliance:
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Sensors certified to PL D are clearly marked in our product descriptions.
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All other sensors meet PL C when installed and configured according to specifications.
By understanding and applying the right Performance Level, you can ensure both compliance with EN 16005 and the safety of everyone using your doors.
We clearly identify in the product description any sensor which is Level D and all other sensors will be Level C.
