Why should I have a home lift or commercial lift Safety Check?

You should have a Safety check on your home lift or commercial lift every year!

Lift safety should be the primary concern for lift owners and lift companies.
Lift owners are the ones legally responsible to ensure their lift is safe.

Lift owners are responsible for ensuring fully documented safety checks are done each year. If this is not done the owner is then viewed as responsible for any injuries caused by the lift.

Without annual safety checks lifts may develop faults that could endanger the users of a lift. If a lift has just been installed or has not had a full safety check for some years it is imperative that a fully documented safety check be made by a suitably qualified and experienced lift mechanic.

Once a fully documented safety check has been completed, any safety concerns raised need to be evaluated and a rectification plan put in place.

Lifts are serious pieces of equipment that lift people many meters into the air. If a lift is not well maintained and annual safety checks carried out some of the following may occur:

• Lifts become unreliable and annoy the users
• Passengers may become entrapped between floors causing stress and expense
• Components become worn and costly repairs ensue
• Doors may become unsafe and injure passengers
• Some of the new products are light-weight and not tested and may have inherent safety issues from new. These lifts are of primary concern as are the very old unmaintained lifts as they call fall, limbs can be severed or people fall down shafts

Safety is all about prevention rather than cure.

If you wish to discuss issues raised in this article with an independent body the Lift Engineers Society Victoria (LESA) are a good source of information.

Lift Engineers Society Victoria (LESA)

Published: September 29, 2015