Residential Elevator Safety - Have your lift inspected!

We reviewed some safety issues with residential elevators in the 7/26/14 blog post. There still are accidents occurring on residential elevators.  It appears that the accidents are mainly due to lack of maintenance, inspection and non-supervision of users.  All mentioned items can be prevented.  The residential elevator is not intended for non responsible people to use unsupervised.   There is a link to an issue that occurred last Thanksgiving in South Carolina where a family rented a home with a residential elevator.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/in-home-elevator-accidents-causing-catastrophic-harm-to-kids/

Many of the issues we have seen lately have been due to little people closing the hall door and fitting between hall door and the car door.  When the elevator moves it will not stop and will injure a person if they are in this confined space. 

[Watch Utube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGoPof0BytA]

We encourage all owners or people using residential elevators to have

           

1.    Have the residential elevator inspected on a regular basis by an elevator inspection company

2.    Have the residential elevator maintained by an elevator service company on a regular basis.

3.    Be conscience of the users and supervise children or people whom have never used the residential elevator

4.    Put lock outs on the residential elevators to prevent non-essential use by responsible and experienced users

5.    Have the distance between the hall door and residence lift gate reviewed by an elevator professional to identify if you need a space guard or electric eyes.  If you have more than 4 ½” between the hall door and gate you should install a space guard or electric eyes.

a.    Space guard – Attaches do hatch doors and does not allow anyone to fit between the hatch door and car gate[eliminates gap]

b.    Electric eye – Elevator will not run if there is an object between hatch door and car gate[eliminates possibility of someone between the doors and the lift running]

 [Space guard is shown above on the elevator hatch door - http://www.elevatorgates.com/]

Find a qualified elevator inspection company to inspect and maintain the residential elevator to prevent safety issues as well as prolong your equipment's life.

If you have an questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.