Lifts/Escalators/High Access
Elevating Standards – How to Ensure Safe and Reliable Lift Operation
Richard Clarke, director at Schindler, the UK’s leading provider of lifts and escalators, looks at some of the key issues surrounding the maintenance and operation of lifts to help ensure the highest standards of safety, reliability and a positive user experience.
ifts are an important means of transporting users, providing access, and are fundamental to maintaining efficient traffic flows for staff and visitors inside some of the largest and most complex buildings. The life cycle of a lift is longer than most other forms of transportation and building equipment, which means that lift equipment has to be precisely maintained to ensure ongoing safety, performance, and accessibility.
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The Importance of Preventative Maintenance A preventative maintenance regime is critical to maximising the availability of lift equipment and to ensure it remains compliant with the latest mandatory safety standards and stringent codes of practice. There have been instances in recent years where there have been prosecutions following avoidable loss of life for failing to adequately maintain lift equipment so the importance of a strict schedule that is appropriate to the use of the lifts cannot be stressed enough.
10 Key Considerations 1. A stringent maintenance programme should be in place for every lift. This means the equipment is regularly checked by a competent specialist and in line with the manufacturer’s recommended schedule.
A regular inspection routine delivered by a competent specialist should give you the assurance of both the relevant technical expertise and the rapid supply of spare parts. These regimes must be specific and tailored to the age, traffic flow, location and vulnerability of the lift. If correctly delivered, a proactive regime will improve life of the lift, extend the time between call backs, maximise reliability, and reduce the risk of accidents and litigation. How critical is the lift’s use? A passenger bed lift transporting patients to theatre will clearly be more essential equipment and therefore require more frequent
24 lifts/escalators/high access
inspections than a lift in a car park. Is the lift subject to heavy use 24/7 or is it a low demand unit used from 9am to 5pm as in an office situation? An outdoor lift for a car park will be more exposed to the elements and so will require more regular maintenance and checks. A good lift maintenance specialist will advise and draw up the most appropriate service schedule for each individual lift to minimise breakdowns.
2. Statutory inspections – lifts carrying passengers require inspection by a ‘competent person’ with a maximum interval of six months between inspections. Goods only lifts must be examined at least every 12 months. This is an important legislative requirement that should be undertaken in accordance with the Lifting Operations & Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). Ideally an independent third party would carry out this inspection rather than the maintenance contractor, to avoid conflicts of interest. Some major lift companies may carry out additional periodic safety inspections to offer further reassurance on performance, reliability and safety.
Other legislation for lift equipment includes: • Health and Safety at Work Act – safe working for staff and contractors
• PUWER – Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations – a lift in a communal area is classed as work equipment
• BS 7255 2012 – best practice for a lift owner and a lift maintenance contractor
• CE Marking – a suite of standards for new lift installations.
3. There are a number of additional checks that facilities managers should also carry out regularly: • Ensure the emergency communications system is
working at all times. Check whether there is the facility for automatic remote checking every 72 hours. This is a statutory requirement for new installations but if an existing lift is not equipped, put in place a process for the system to be tested every three days.
• Lighting should be checked regularly and bulbs replaced promptly.
• Check the levelling of the lift. The lift threshold should be level with each floor it opens out on to. Any significant variation will create a serious trip hazard. New lifts are designed to allowable tolerances of +/-6mm whereas existing installations have tolerances of +/-12mm. Lifts can also move over time.
• Make sure the door tracks are kept clear. The most common cause of breakdown is the doors failing to open or close. To help avoid this, the building’s cleaning regime should include vacuuming out and regular cleaning of the tracks.
• Carry out regular checks on door safety devices. These features ensure the doors reverse if an obstruction is detected, to prevent injury.
4. How to select a lift maintenance company: • Assess the company’s technical competence. Be aware that not all service providers have the same levels of competence or familiarity with your equipment.
• It is usual for a lift servicing company to maintain equipment supplied by another lift manufacturer.
• Ensure the service provider has the resources and local capacity for the frequency of maintenance needed
Building & Facilities Management – October 2014
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