Closing and opening movements are effected by a reversible motor M. The motor M receives its power from a supply U via a feed circuit which includes switch contacts r.sub.1, r.sub.2 controlled by a relay R. The arrangement is such that a closing movement takes place when the relay is energized and an opening movement when the relay is deenergized. To select these two movements there is provided a selector switch S in the feed circuit which has two operative positions and an intermediate neutral position. The excitation winding of the relay R is included in a monitoring circuit in parallel with a strip-like safety switch SL. The strip-like safety switch SL is positioned in the path of the closing movement and has two strip-like contact bands 1, 2 which are pressed together if an object should become trapped in the path of the closing movement. If this occurs the excitation winding of the relay is short circuited and it automatically reverses the motor to convert the closing movement into an opening movement. A follower contact F is associated with the selector switch S and serves to short circuit the monitoring circuit during the opening movement so that it is only connected operatively in parallel with the feed circuit during the closing movement. The series arrangement of the contact strip 1, the excitation winding of the relay R and the contact strip 2 means that a breakage in either of the contact strips, i.e. a faulty safety sensor, will prevent potentially dangerous closing movements from taking place. A number of alternative embodiments are shown including variations using DC, single phase and three phase motors.