Entrances AHA (Activity Hazard Analysis / Job Hazard Analysis)

Updated 2026-06-23

An Entrances AHA (Activity Hazard Analysis / Job Hazard Analysis) is the plan for installing building entrances — the entry doorways themselves, where the doors, pivots, closers, and thresholds come together — and it focuses on the entrance door and its hardware within the glazed opening. This AHA (Activity Hazard Analysis / Job Hazard Analysis) is about the doorway: heavy glass entry doors and the closer hardware that makes them self-close.

Why entrances needs its own AHA

An entrance is the doorway of a building — the entry doors set within the storefront or facade opening, with their pivots or hinges, closers, thresholds, and hardware. While the surrounding storefront is glazed wall, the entrance is specifically the door, and it carries hazards focused on the door leaf and its closing hardware. Entrance doors are frequently heavy — all-glass tempered leaves, or aluminum-and-glass doors — and they're often hung on pivots with overhead or floor closers that control a self-closing action, so hanging and adjusting them combines heavy- glass-leaf handling with closer/pivot work. The floor closer in particular is set into the threshold, meaning work at the floor of a doorway with the heavy leaf above. And the entrance is the single busiest point of the facade — where all the pedestrian traffic funnels — so it's installed in a public pass-through, and the self-closing leaf is a pinch and strike hazard both during install and in use. So the defining hazards are the heavy glass entrance-door handling and the closer/pivot hardware (including floor-closer threshold work), in a public doorway. The entrance is where the glass, the weight, and the self-closing hardware concentrate at the busiest opening.

Breaking entrances into steps

The steps follow the doorway install:

• Confirm the entrance door type, weight, and closer/pivot hardware from the submittal
• Control the public doorway opening during the work
• Set the pivots/hinges and the floor or overhead closer
• Handle and hang the heavy glass entrance leaf (glass/crush control)
• Adjust the closer and self-closing action (strike control)
• Install the threshold, hardware, and weatherseal
• Verify safe door operation and closing

The hazards step by step

Heavy glass entrance-door handling

The entrance leaf is often a heavy all-glass tempered door or an aluminum-and-glass assembly, so hanging it combines significant weight with glass fragility. A tempered-glass entrance leaf is heavy, and while tempered glass is strong, a mishandled or edge-struck leaf can shatter (tempered glass fails suddenly into fragments), and a dropped heavy glass door is both broken glass and a crush hazard. Team-handle the glass leaf with glass-handling equipment and cut protection, control it during hanging so it isn't dropped or edge-struck, and set it onto the pivots as a controlled operation. The all-glass entrance door is the sharpest combination of heavy-leaf and glass hazard in the group.

Closer and pivot hardware, including floor-closer threshold work

Entrance doors are hung on pivots (top and bottom) with closers that control the self-closing action, and the floor closer is set into the threshold — so hardware work happens both overhead (top pivot/overhead closer) and at the floor (floor closer in the threshold), with the heavy leaf being fitted to it. The hazards are the pinch of setting pivots and closers, working at the threshold under the heavy leaf, and the self-closing action itself: once the closer is set, the leaf closes on its own with force, so it can strike the installer during adjustment. Set the hardware with the leaf controlled or blocked, keep hands clear of the pivots and closer mechanism, work the threshold/floor-closer with the leaf secured above, and adjust the self-closing action keeping clear of the closing leaf.

The public doorway opening

The entrance is the busiest point of the building face — all pedestrian traffic passes through it — so it's installed in a public pass-through, often in an occupied or opening building. A partly-installed entrance door, an open doorway, or a self-closing glass leaf being adjusted are all hazards to the public. Control and mark the doorway during work, keep the public clear, mark the glass leaf (a clear glass door is easy to walk into), and coordinate with the building's use.

Glass, eye, sealant, and edges

The glass handling (cut/shatter), the glazing/weatherseal sealants (sealant cautions), and the debris and edges all bring their controls — cut and eye protection throughout, immediate cleanup of any broken glass.

A simple Entrances AHA structure

Where the heavy glass leaf and the closer work meet

The two defining hazards converge in the floor-closer hang: the heavy glass leaf is fitted onto a floor closer set into the threshold, so the crew works at the floor of the doorway, under a heavy glass door, setting a closer that will then drive the leaf to self-close. That's the crux — heavy glass above, closer work below, and a self-closing action about to come alive. The control is sequencing and securing: set and control the leaf so it can't drop while the threshold closer is worked, keep hands clear as the closer is adjusted and the self-close is tested, and don't have hands at the threshold with an uncontrolled heavy glass leaf above. The entrance door's weight, glass, and self-closing all meet at that threshold.

From the field: what actually goes wrong

The entrance failures are the glass door and the closing strike. The glass door: a heavy all-glass tempered entrance leaf is handled shorthanded or edge-struck, and it either gets away as a crush hazard or shatters (tempered glass lets go all at once), showering the public doorway with fragments. The closing strike: an installer adjusts the closer and the self-closing leaf swings shut and strikes them, or catches a hand at the pivot — the entrance door is built to close itself, and that action is live once the closer is set. And the public one: an unmarked glass entrance door or open doorway in an occupied building, and someone walks into the glass or the work. All concentrate at the busiest opening in the building. Handle the glass leaf with the right crew and equipment, control the self- closing action, and keep the public clear of the doorway.

The bottom line

An Entrances AHA is a glass-door-and-closer plan at the busiest opening. The entrance leaf is heavy glass, the closer and pivot hardware make it self-close (with floor-closer work at the threshold under the leaf), and the doorway is a public pass-through — so the controls are team-handling the glass leaf with glass equipment and cut protection, setting and adjusting the closer/pivots with the leaf secured and hands clear of the self-closing arc, working the threshold with the leaf controlled above, and keeping the public clear of the marked doorway. Respect that the entrance concentrates glass, weight, and self-closing hardware at the busiest point, and it installs safely.

Frequently asked questions

What makes entrance doors particularly hazardous to hang?

They combine heavy weight with glass. Entrance leaves are often heavy all-glass tempered doors or aluminum-and-glass assemblies, so hanging one is both a crush hazard (heavy leaf) and a shatter/cut hazard (it's glass, and tempered glass fails suddenly into fragments if edge-struck). Team-handle the leaf with glass-handling equipment and cut protection, control it during hanging so it isn't dropped or edge-struck, and set it onto the pivots as a controlled operation.

What's the hazard with the closer hardware?

Entrance doors are hung on pivots with closers that make them self-close, and the floor closer is set into the threshold — so hardware work happens overhead and at the floor with the heavy leaf being fitted to it, and once the closer is set the leaf closes on its own with force and can strike the installer during adjustment. Set the hardware with the leaf controlled or blocked, keep hands clear of the pivots and closer, work the threshold with the leaf secured above, and adjust the self-closing action clear of the closing leaf.

Why does the public matter for an entrance install?

Because the entrance is the busiest point of the building face — all pedestrian traffic funnels through it — so it's installed in a public pass-through, often in an occupied or opening building. A partly-installed door, an open doorway, or a self-closing glass leaf being adjusted all endanger the public, and a clear glass door is easy to walk into. Control and mark the doorway, keep the public clear, mark the glass leaf, and coordinate with the building's use.

How is this different from the storefront AHA?

The storefront AHA covers the glazed wall around the entrance — large lites and framing. This one focuses on the doorway itself: the heavy glass entrance leaf, the pivot and closer hardware that make it self-close, and the threshold work, at the busiest opening. If you're hanging and adjusting the entry doors specifically, the glass-door-and-closer focus here is the fit.

Related AHAs and JHAs

• Automatic Entrances AHA — the powered automatic entrance
• Entrances and Storefronts AHA — the combined entrance/storefront fundamentals
• Entrances Storefronts and Curtain Walls AHA — the facade-glazing family fundamentals
• Glass and Glazing Installation JHA — the glass-handling fundamentals

Written by Mustafa Tok, CSP, ASP, CHST — OSHA Authorized Outreach Trainer with 14+ years of international construction safety experience across federal, heavy civil, and industrial projects.