Elevating times

The lift today is fundamentally different from what it was 12 years ago, and indeed, until 1999 lifts had changed very little since the early 1960s. As in the motor industry, lift technology has moved on in leaps and bounds. But unlike the motor car, where last year’s model usually looks rather different to this year’s, most lifts look much the same as they did years ago – a box going up and down in a shaft. So it is not surprising that many lift owners do not recognise the changes that have taken place.

The change has been driven by the European Lift Directive that came into operation in 1999 in all EU member states, implemented in the UK by the Lift Regulations 1997. It is this legislation more than any other that has moulded the modern lift into what it is today.

In the lead up to the introduction of the new legislation, there was some concern that the European standard would arrive at common but low levels of safety, with the UK industry thinking that its products, designed to British standards such as BS5655, were very much state of the art. However, this has proved not to be the case. The legislation is framed to encourage the industry to develop  and produce innovative design solutions that raise the level of safety to the high level that today’s society expects.

Litigious climate
In parallel with the focus on safety, there is an increasing tendency in society to embark on litigation. If something goes wrong or someone is injured, there is a growing assumption that somebody is at fault and subsequently are liable for compensation. The consequence of this is that if there is a lift accident, the owner of person responsible for its operation is very likely to be pursued in the courts.

The court will seek proof that the person who claims to have been injured in a lift was in fact injured in or by it. In its deliberations the courts will consider many issues but the important points are to determine who is responsible for the condition of the lift. In particular, the court will want to judge whether it was compliant with modern safety standards that, if applied, would have avoided or reduced the severity of the injury. However, the courts usually have limited knowledge of lifts so they look to evidence written by experts in the particular field to define what is considered safe in today’s society. This means they refer to the current state of the art standards, the European EN81 series.

Calculating the odds
Lifts usually carry more persons over more journeys than is generally recognised. The significance of this is that more operations that are performed, the more likely an incident will occur – along with a subsequent claim.

For example, a small eight-person lift installed in a five-storey apartment block, with two apartments per floor, each housing four persons, typically makes 100 journeys per day. On these 100 journeys, the lift carries occupants of the building along with visitors and service providers such as postmen who visit the building on a daily basis.

On this reckoning, this small lift carries some 36,500 person over the course of a year. Over ten years, this figure becomes 365,000 persons, any one of whom may trip or fall, collide with doors or have other mishaps. Will an accident occur? Probably. If you gather together 365,000 people and give them a simple task to do will any of them do it wrong? Probably. It is likely you will have a claim against you? Yes – and if your lift is pre 1999 and has not been updated, then a claim is very likely to be successful.

Could you move the responsibility to another party, such as your maintenance company? Maybe – but only if you can prove they were not doing their job properly and that you carried out your responsibilities fully. This requires demonstrating that you have conducted a suitable risk assessment as the law requires, identified relevant risk and put in place reasonable measures to minimise the risk. Will you be able to offer a reasoned defence? Probably not, if you cannot show that you took reasonable methods to ensure the equipment was safe.

Managing the risks
There is a considerable amount of legislation related to lifts and the responsibilities of an owner/operator. Among the more important is the Health and Safety at Work Act applicable to all lifts, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) applicable where the equipment is used by workers during their daily activities and the Lifting Operation and Lift Equipment Regulations (LOLER) when applicable.

In order to ensure that a lift is compliant, it must not only be regularly maintained by a competent maintainer, but also given an independent safety inspection by a lift inspection company. Owner and maintainer must keep records of inspections and repairs. Most importantly, a detailed risk assessment should be carried out, in order to manage the risk as well as to plan and budget for upgrading where required.

There are tools available such as ‘rules for the improvement of existing lifts BSEN81-80’ to assist owners in identifying the relevant risks and classifying them into high, medium or low risk items. If you can show at the early stages of a claim that you acted in a responsible manner, kept the equipment in good condition and up to date then it is likely that a ‘no win, no claim’ against you will go away.

Lastly, if you think all this is unnecessary because any claim against you will be covered by your insurance, read your policy in detail – you may be surprised what it does not cover.