Understanding Lift Servicing And Maintenance
Broken down lifts or elevators can cause havoc for businesses and individuals. Not only is it considerably inconvenient, but it could also potentially lead to serious accidents or injuries happening on site. Ensuring your lifts are serviced, maintained and examined at regular intervals will prevent a damaging inconvenience, impracticality or health and safety nightmare, helping to maintain your lift efficiency and security.
What’s A Lift Service?
During a service, an engineer will carry out a series of checks, examinations and inspections on the lift’s safety features, as well as ensuring all parts and accessories are functioning and in good condition. They will often clean, lubricate and adjust components in the process, to further increase performance and upon completion, will typically provide information on any potential repairs or works of improvement that may need to be carried out. A report is then written out and handed to you to keep as part of your lift maintenance records.
Lift Examination & The ‘Competent Person’
The first step in effective and proper lift servicing and maintenance work is to have a thorough examination and inspection carried out by what is known as a ‘competent person’. A competent person should be an individual who has sufficient experience, both in a technical and practical sense, of the lift in question and is therefore capable of detecting any defects and assessing their potential risks. It’s vitally important, however, that the competent person in question is entirely independent and impartial in their findings, in order for them to make an objective assessment of the lift. For instance, those that carry out regular checks and inspections on the lift should not be assigned as the competent person as, in this case, they will essentially be marking their own homework.
A thorough lift examination should include the following:
● Car doors and their interlocks
● Worm and other gearing
● Main drive system components
● Governors
● Safety gear
● Suspension ropes
● Suspension chains
● Overload detection devices
● Electrical devices (earthing, earth bonding, safety devices, fuses etc).
● Braking systems
● Hydraulics
This examination of the lift and associated equipment will help determine or detect potential defects or issues which could potentially cause harm. Assessing risks, the competent person will consider important factors in their inspection, such as where the lift will be used, the frequency of use, the age and condition of the lift and the weight of loads to be lifted. This information will help decide whether the lift is safe to use, and if there are potential concerns, the competent person may ask to carry out a series of tests to help further clarify the wellness and safety of your lift.
Why Have One?
Ensuring your elevators are serviced and maintained regularly helps to reduce the risk of issues occurring in the future, from breakdowns to serious safety-related issues, failing to service your lift can even potentially lead to passenger injuries or fatalities, an entirely unthinkable, yet potentially very real outcome. If you’re an employer providing lift equipment for use at work, you must comply with specific regulations and rules to ensure regular checks, inspections, servicing and repairs are carried out to guarantee the safety of your lift. The two main regulations related to lift maintenance critical to remember are:
● LOLER (Lift Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998) - responsible for placing strict duties on employers and companies who own, operate or have control over lifting equipment. This is carried out through regular examination, (every six months for passenger-carrying lifts), not dissimilar to a vehicle M.O.T.
● PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998) - this regulation ensures that any risks posed to employees’ or workers health and safety as a result of equipment used at work are minimised or prevented. This means they must be safe and suitable for use in accordance with LOLER requirements and only used by trained persons with extensive knowledge of the equipment.
Having these checks, inspections and examinations carried out and documented is a legal requirement. If you are either ignoring or not adhering to these regulations in full, you are acting unlawfully and are therefore not only risking the health and safety of your employees, but also the future of your business.
When Do I Need One?
Generally speaking, the more frequent examinations and checks are carried out, the less likely you are to be faced with potentially serious issues occurring later down the line. Regular lift servicing and maintenance work will help to identify and repair any issues well before they have the chance to turn into something far more serious, which could result in a severe accident, incident or repair job.
However, it’s important to remember that there are legal requirements placed on your business to ensure lift servicing and maintenance is carried out, and in specific circumstances, such as:
● After substantial or significant changes to the lift have been made.
● At least every six months if the lift is used to carry passengers.
● Every twelve months if the lift only carries loads.
● After ‘exceptional circumstances’ such as damage to, or failure of, the lift or after long periods without use, or, a major change in operating conditions which could affect the equipment's strength or integrity.
If any of the above has occurred, you must have your lift serviced immediately to comply with regulations. Remember; failing to carry our said checks and addressing even the smallest of issues is both unlawful and incredibly risky. Ignoring the signs now could result in a much greater expense in the future, or worse, a serious accident or injury.
Having Your Service
When your lift service is due, a specialist engineer will visit your site and carry out several checks and inspections on your lift. Paying close attention to the safety features, the engineer will also likely clean, lubricate and adjust the components for optimum performance. Upon completion, they will provide you with recommendations for any potential issues or repairs that may need to be carried out and if possible, they may even perform this work on the day. They will also be expected to write up a detailed report, highlighting the work that has already been carried out, and provide the key recommendations or repairs that may still need to be completed. As a legal requirement, the report must contain specific information and should:
● Identify equipment examined, the employer and the premises.
● Provide the date and time of the last inspection and specify when the next one is due.
● Specify the working load of the lift.
● Provide reasons for the thorough examination.
● Identify defects or hazards.
● Provide details for repairs, renewals or alterations required.
● Offer details of any tests carried out.
The written report must contain this information or else they are failing to carry out their legal requirement and you will have grounds to reject their findings based on this matter. Equally, you are legally required to keep any records of thorough examinations carried out for at least two years or until the next examination, particularly if you are signed up to a continual maintenance schedule or contract.
ADL Lift Services - Lift Manufacturers Across Scotland
At ADL Lift Services, we understand the importance of personalised service and the right lifts for your needs. That’s why our team of professionals offers quality service as well as all of the equipment and parts that you will need to keep your lift working the way that it should. Unlike other lift maintenance companies in Scotland, we offer personalised service to our clients. We work with many different lift manufacturers, can create bespoke agreements for you, and offer maintenance and service agreements that you’ll love.
Our team of lift manufacturers in Scotland provide some of the very best services across the country, with expert knowledge, years of experience and unbeatable customer service. If you’re stuck with a problem with your lifts, we have a solution to help. Contact us today!
