Posted By ohreally I'd welcome thoughts on the following. A decision appears to have been taken in the workplace to permit some members of staff access into a lift motor room, these staff don't have an engineering or maintenence background.The potential hazards are 3 phase electricity supply (they are being asked to isolate this supply out of hours - there are maintenance staff on call) and high pressure hydraulics. Door mounted signage states unauthorised entry prohibited into plant room. What constitutes unauthorised in this context? Any specific regs on lifts and competant persons?

Posted By Dave Merchant Access through lift rooms to get onto a rooftop is very common, and doesn't need formal training as a lift engineer - simply awareness training in the hazards and how to avoid them - however every site is different and the hazards can be far more significant than in the "normal" areas of the building, so every case needs assessment. Telecoms engineers only get about 20 minutes on lift/plant room hazards in their rooftop access courses, and we've not seen piles of accident reports because of it. The raft of signage is there to make the point very strongly that it's not likely to be safe, especially in older buildings where the room is the de-facto "enclosure" for the machinery, so we find exposed conductors, unguarded drives, fragile floors, poor lighting, etc. etc.; but it's up to the premises owner to decide who is or isn't authorized.

Posted By ohreally Thanks.