More than 40% of the lifts in this country are between 20 and 40 years old. Safety standards have changed a lot in that time and, as a lift owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re doing everything you can to meet those standards. That’s where Liftserv can help. Understanding your obligations Legislative References Key risk areas More information

Understanding your obligations
Lift owners have four basic obligations:-

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Legislative References

•  The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

•  The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

•  The Lifting operations Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998

•  The Disability Discrimination Act.

Reference shortlist - Standards/Codes of Practice/Guidelines

The Lift Regulations:1997

EN81-1/2:                "safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts. Electric/Hydraulic.

EN81-70:             "Accessibility to lifts for persons, including persons with disabilities"

Part M2:             Section of Building regulations; dealing with lift access for disabled persons.

EN13015:             "Maintenance for Lifts and Escalators: Rules for maintenance instructions.

BS7255:2001   " Safe working on Lifts" (safety guide for lift engineers and owners )

prEN81-80 :   "Rules for the improvement of safety of existing passenger and goods lifts".

prEN81-80 Explained

New European standard - prEN81-80 - has been developed to give lift owners the clearest possible guidance on the standards of performance their lift equipment should meet.   It identifies all the major risk areas and outlines recommended steps for protecting against them.   Some of the most significant risk areas are:-

Key risk areas

Lift Doors: A high proportion of incidents result from lift doors closing on passengers entering or leaving.   Although usually minor, these incidents can cause injury and distress and modern electronic protection devices can significantly reduce the risk.

Levelling:   Inaccurate or inconsistent floor levelling can cause tripping or other injuries - and modern technology means it's now possible to reduce this risk by achieving far more accurate levelling.

Top of Lift cars:   Although accidents involving lifts are thankfully rare, failure to provide adequate safeguards for those working on lift cars can result in serious injury or death.   Engineers and others working on the top of lifts should always be able to control them externally to avoid any risk of crushing.

Guards and Voids:   Similarly, it's important to ensure that any moving parts are adequately covered and voids in lift wells are guarded wherever possible, to protect maintenance personnel (and anyone else with access to the equipment).

Communication and Lighting:   Lifts do break down from time to time and it's important that passengers trapped in a lift should never feel 'abandoned'.   It's now a legal requirement for new lifts to have permanent two-way voice communication systems and emergency lighting - and strongly recommended for existing lifts.

Rescue: If it's necessary to evacuate passengers from a lift car, this should only be done by trained personnel - and their work can be made significantly easier by the provision of additional safety devices (such as a car position indicator in the machine room).

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