Lift and lifting equipment safety standard

The safety of our residents, staff and contractors is at the heart of all we do. We are committed to ensuring that arrangements to service and maintain lifts in common areas and residents’ homes are delivered consistently to this standard, while meeting all regulation as an absolute minimum and best practice where appropriate.

This is our standard:

1.    Our Landlords Authorised Person (Head of M&E and Compliance) has overall responsibility for ensuring that lifts lifting equipment are safe and reviews our policies and procedures annually to ensure that they are up to date.    

2.    The Landlord’s Authorised Person will appoint a Delivery Duty Manager who has responsibility for drafting operational procedures, processes and managing the daily operations for lifts and lifting equipment.

3.    We compile a list of all lifts and lifting equipment that needs to be inspected and maintained and this is kept up to date.

4.    We keep records of all equipment servicing, repairs and thorough examinations.

5.    We regularly service all lifts and lifting equipment. This is done by specialist contractors at the following frequency levels:

Type of equipment	Servicing frequency (minimum)
Vertical passenger lifts	Every two months
Stair lifts, through floor lifts and step lifts	Annually
Hoists and other lifting equipment	Annually

6.    We ensure that 24/7 emergency communication systems in our lifts are maintained in good working order. These are checked as part of the service visit.

7.    We aim to ensure that all lifts and lifting equipment are kept in full safe working order at all times. When a repair is needed, every effort is made to remedy faults as quickly as possible. Emergency breakdowns are responded to within 4 hours.

8.    On more complicated faults, we keep residents informed of the nature of the problem and the likely timescales to return services to normal, by a combination of personal contact, written notification, and signage on and around any lifts affected. Our aim is to ensure that residents are not inconvenienced and that delays are kept to a minimum. If a repair is likely to take more than 7 days, we will complete a risk assessment, take the necessary action to ensure that residents stay safe and have good access to their homes and keep good lines of communication open.

9.    We ensure that all lifts are fully accessible for disabled users (as per the requirements of the Disability Discriminations Act 2005, the Equality Act 2010 and to the specifications outlined in Part M of the Building Regulations).

10.    In addition to the regular service, we undertake a thorough examination of our lifts every six months. This thorough examination will be carried out by a UKAS accredited organisation who is sufficiently independent and impartial to allow them to make an objective assessment. These are LOLER examinations.

11.    We ensure reports of any examinations are accurate and made available for at least two years.

12.    Notices following a LOLER examination are actioned within the timescales prescribed by the Inspector.

13.    We keep records of thorough examinations and remedial works undertaken. The enforcing authority (i.e. The Health and Safety Executive) are informed of any defects classified as ‘immediately dangerous’.

14.    We have planned programmes of works to replace/refurbish lift installations based on life cycles and audit/service reports. Where a period of down time is expected we will consult with residents and other stake holders and provide, where required, reasonable alternative arrangements for access and/or decanting if required. 

15.    We have clear procedures in place to respond to the rare occasions when residents become trapped in our lifts. We ensure that our staff understand what to do if someone is trapped. For health and safety / insurance reasons, our staff will not release any persons trapped in lifts but will provide reassurance until such time as our lift maintenance contractor or emergency services arrive, as appropriate.

16.    Our lift contractors are required to be on site within one hour when an alarm signal is received of a resident trapped in the lift.

17.    We ensure that all servicing and breakdown reports are correct and stored electronically and that data is available to look at for each block/ scheme conveniently.

18.    New schemes will only be handed over once a declaration of conformity has been provided and is valid for a period of 12 months from the point of handover.

19.    We monitor the performance of our contractors monthly to ensure that servicing visits and repairs are carried out on time.