Summary: A safe home lift should be designed to stop when something is not right, whether that is an open landing door, an obstruction, a power outage or an emergency situation. The main features to look for are door locks and contacts, stop switches, safety edges, battery or UPS backup, manual emergency lowering, emergency communication, and proper commissioning and weight testing before handover.
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A home lift should have safety features built into it so that if something is not right, the lift will stop operating rather than keep going.
Probably the biggest one is the door safety. No matter what type of lift it is, if a landing door is ajar or not shut properly, the lift should not run. That is a big one. Sliding door lifts, swing door lifts, they all use different ways of doing it, but the principle is the same. If those electrical contacts are not 100%, the lift stops.
You have also got stop switches on certain types of lifts as well, usually on the operating panels. Sometimes people press them by accident, but they are there as part of the overall safety setup. On platform lifts, you have safety edges around the outside of the platform, so if something presses on that edge while the lift is travelling, it will stop the lift from running.
Then you have got the backup side of things, which is important. If the power goes out, the lift should still have a way of getting the passenger to a safe floor. Platform lifts generally come with battery backup, so if you lose power, the batteries kick in and the lift will drive down so you can get out at the lower floor. Hydraulic systems use a UPS, so if the power goes off, the lift will automatically lower to the lower floor and open the doors.
There should also be manual emergency lowering available. On screw and nut lifts, there are manual drive buttons that can run the lift on batteries up or down. On hydraulic lifts, there is a hydraulic release on the valve block so the lift can be lowered manually if needed.
Emergency communication is another important one. Apart from stair lifts, a home lift should have a way for someone inside the lift to call for help. In residential, that can be a handset, but most are now done through a 4G GSM, so there is communication from inside the lift car if there is ever an incident.
A good home lift should also be fully tested and commissioned before handover. That means checking all the safety components are operating properly and carrying out weight testing as well. We test lifts above their maximum load to make sure the safety systems do what they are meant to do.
So really, the main safety features you want are door locks and door contacts, stop switches, safety edges, battery backup or UPS backup, manual emergency lowering, emergency communication, and proper commissioning and weight testing before the lift is handed over. A lot of people look at finishes and how the lift will look in the house, but the safety side is just as important.
Key Points
- Door safety is one of the biggest ones because the lift should not run if a landing door is ajar or not shut properly
- Stop switches add another layer of safety on certain lift types if the lift needs to be stopped
- Safety edges help protect against obstructions by stopping the lift if something presses against the platform edge during travel
- Battery backup or UPS backup is important so the lift can still get the passenger to a safe floor if the power goes out
- Manual emergency lowering gives another way out if the lift needs to be lowered manually
- Emergency communication matters so someone inside the lift can call for help if there is an incident
- Commissioning and weight testing should be done before handover to make sure all safety systems are working properly
- The safety side is just as important as the look of the lift so it is worth understanding these features from the start
