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feature
stairs, lifts, balconies & balustrades
lift fire safety flagged as critical risk in major
in older high-rise and mixed-use buildings. PEW Electrical Distributors tells us more...
As the industry works to align ageing building stock with Building Safety Act (BSA) requirements and evolving evacuation standards, fire safety in lifts is emerging as a growing concern for construction and building management professionals. With thousands of high-rise and complex
residential buildings now undergoing remediation and safety reviews, attention is turning to vertical transportation systems and their role in evacuation and firefighter access, particularly in older buildings where upgrading lift infrastructure is technically complex.
Against this backdrop, new research
commissioned by PEW Electrical reveals that 63% of professionals say that lifts are a major concern when it comes to fire safety in buildings, while 48% say they expect less than half of operational lifts are compliant with fire safety standards. It found that while understanding
of regulatory requirements is improving, delivery on site remains challenging. In fact, over a third (35%) of professionals say that the main difficulty with meeting standards is technical complications in the lift shaft itself, reflecting the reality of retrofitting systems that were never
designed to meet modern evacuation or firefighting lift requirements. Perceptions of industry readiness also
remain mixed. 46% say the lift industry is behind other sectors when it comes to fire safety and evacuation, and over half (51%) say the industry struggles with a technical understanding of fire safety in lifts. Concern doesn’t end there: fire risk assessments continue to attract criticism. 39% say that fire risk assessments are inconsistent, varying between contractor and assessors, and nearly one in five (18%) say that “no one” complies with the processes, raising concerns about how
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