The recently published Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have resulted in changes to regulations around high-rise residential buildings. These include the requirement for “responsible persons” to undertake monthly checks on lifts for use by firefighters and evacuation lifts, along with other duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. Nick Mellor, MD of LEIA and LIFTEX 2022 highlights how to ensure your lifts are compliant and which checks are required if you’re the ‘responsible person’.
Who is classed as the ‘responsible person’?
The ‘responsible person’ is the term used in the regulations and could be the building’s FM, owner or another designated person.
What is the current British Standards Guidance?
The maintenance and inspection of lifts is referred to in British Standards (9999:2017, Annex I) which include recommendations for weekly, monthly and annual checks. These are echoed in BS 8899:2016, clause 8, which looks at routine inspection, maintenance, and thorough examination of lifts for use by firefighters and evacuation lifts.
Weekly checks
Weekly check by the responsible person (these checks do not need the involvement of a lift specialist) should include checks of manual recall and from fire detection and alarm systems including:
- Recall to the designated floor and removal from service of lifts not intended to stay in service.
- Recall to the fire service access level and removal from service until firefighters take control of lifts for use by firefighters.
- Recall to the exit floor and removal from service until evacuation operations begin of lifts intended for the evacuation of disabled people.
• Operation of any manual lift recall switch should be checked weekly by the building owner/responsible person using their key to ensure that the lift car rrecalls to the designated floor and then goes out of service. Any fault should be reported to the lift maintenance provider.
• Operation of any evacuation lift switch or firemen’s/firefighting/firefighters lift switch should be checked weekly by the building owner/responsible person using their key to ensure it recalls the lift car which is then only operates under evacuation/ fire control.
Monthly checks
In addition to the above, the following should be checked every month by the responsible person (these checks do not need the involvement of a lift specialist):
• A failure of the primary power supply should be simulated once a month for lifts intended to be used by the fire services or for the evacuation of disabled people. If a generator provides the standby power supply, it should energise the lift(s) for at least one hour.
• For the monthly routine checks referred to in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, please see the guidance on our website at Lift & Escalator Owner News (leia.co.uk)
Thorough examination of lifts in service
All features and functions of lifts for fire service use and/or evacuation lifts features should be thoroughly examined periodically. This would typically be part of the thorough examination arranged with an inspection body (carried out by a ‘competent person’).
Equipment that is not part of the lift (such as power supplies, supply changeover, water management, fire alarm systems etc.) is also examined and tested on a similar schedule.
Supplementary tests
SAFed’s Guidelines on the supplementary tests of in-service lifts, went through a significant revision in June 2020. The guidelines include a new section which included recommendations for fire recall of lifts, lifts used for the evacuation of disabled people and lift for fire service use.
The guidelines recommend that unless there is evidence to show that such tests have been carried out during routine maintenance (typically such tests would not be part of a maintenance agreement), it is recommended that these tests should be carried out at a periodic interval of 12 months unless it can be demonstrated that more frequent tests are required or that less frequent tests will be adequate to ensure safety.
LIFTEX 2022 takes place from 12–13 October 2022 at ExCeL, London and will address these issues in its seminar programme. www.liftexshow.com
