Posted By Sharon Stephenson Morning All, I hope someone can be of some assistance to me. I have a situation on site whereby our lift keeps breaking down and the engineers come out and fix it, (it's usually only a day before its broke again!!!). Now the lift company we use say it needs new parts and requires to be repaired. They have sent their engineers back to my premises and at the moment it is being fixed. I've asked to see the lift contractors risk assessments and method statements for the work being done and they appear to be in order however i do not undestand the principles of the work they are doing. My concern is that I've rather lost faith in the lift contractor and I am worried about what they are doing and is it actually safe. I cannot see what they are doing as it is behind the closed doors on the lift landings. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to ensure the work is being carried out safely? Thanks all, Sharon

Posted By Safe Elevator Sharon, I will be able to assist you. Contact me direct via my web-site at www.liftsafety.co.uk Regards, Safe Elevator Services

Posted By Keith A Martin Hi sharon, Working as a statutory examiner of lifting equipment, including lifts. I hope I can put your mind to rest about how safe it is to work within a lift shaft (if not about the compentancy of your Engineers!). A lift has a multitude of safety features that prevent accidental opening of Landing doors if the lift is not at that level. For an enginner to enter a lift shaft he needs to override the mechanical door interlock at his level when the top of the lift car is level with the landing floor level. Once the landing door is open the lift can't operate as the control circuit has been broken, by the door switch. The enginner can then enter the lift shaft by stepping onto the top of the car, and switching the car car top controls from normal to inspection mode. (At this point they should then leave the shaft and reclose the door and ensure normal operation of lift is prevented) Once in the shaft with the door closed the enginner has complete control of all lift movements with in the shaft, whilst in inspection mode. I hope this helps to ease your mind as to what safety features are in place to ensure safe working within a lift shaft. I would also recommend that your 6 monthly statutory examinations (And annual LG1) are carried out by a company independant from the maintance engineers, as this gives you a second opinion as to the general condition of the lift and lets you know if adequate maintenace is being carried out. Hope this helps Keith Martin Statutory Test Examiner Babcock Naval Services

Posted By Sharon Stephenson Morning All, Thank you for the information received in the posts it has helped slightly. I'm still unsure about the safe working procedures being adopted by the lift engineers on site. The information provided by Keith has got me thinking even more as the engineers are carrying out repairs so they should not require control of the lift and it should be isolated. I think I will need some specialist advice on this....... Kind Regards Sharon Stephenson