Safety must be the first and most important consideration when deciding on whether to upgrade a lift. Issues identified in gearboxes, brakes, sheaves, or other major components that can only be eliminated through replacement; or design flaws like poor floor levelling accuracy in aged lifts, eliminated only through modernising the controller and drive mechanisms, must be addressed. Left unattended, these can potentially result in a catastrophic failure or ‘runaway’ of the lift.
Another key area is compliance – with both code and occupational regulations, and whether the benefits of full lift modernisation could potentially outweigh individual updates.
For example, a building owner recently accepted a $150,0000 AUD proposal to address several known compliance and safety issues in their lift. The work, including extensive repairs, still retained components that were over 50 years old. While the building managers were acting to reduce risk – which they did, a better solution would have been full modernisation, addressing all compliance, safety and aging component issues at once. The long-term benefits and cost saving of this option would significantly outweigh the nominally higher upfront investment.
Addressing disability access options should be a priority as part of any lift upgrade. Not only will it assist with the perception and lease attractiveness of the building, many government and corporate tenants today will only rent space in buildings where this has been addressed.
If your lift has areas of non-compliance, is it beneficial to only address these items, or would full modernisation be a more effective long-term solution? Of course, this answer will depend on the age and type of the lifts currently installed. In some countries, states, or territories there are no retrospective obligations to make the lifts compliant with current codes. There is, however, usually a regulatory obligation to eliminate or control hazards and risks, not to mention the onus of being a good corporate citizen.
Ride performance is measured in terms of the lift’s ability to transport people with maximum lateral, longitudinal, and vertical vibration comfort.
It is the opinion of the writer, that the design standard for ride performance will vary depending on the speed of your lift car. This can be measured by your lift consultant, in comparison to other modern lift systems and will provide the expected benefits of a lift modernisation.
The maximum noise level inside a lift car travelling at full speed, should be no greater than 55 – 60 dB(A). The lift car superstructure should be free of creaking and rattling, and capable of properly attenuating external noise from the lift shaft.
A lift’s car interior should be aesthetically pleasing, meeting the standards of the market, the user’s expectations, and the design and architectural standard of the building.
Longevity is measured by the number of years a lift can, through its design, condition and serviceability, provide the building with an operationally efficient service, without the need for a major upgrade.
It is the opinion of the writer, this should be not less than 15 years.
Reliability is measured by the number of the lift’s breakdowns or faults requiring corrective action by a maintenance contractor.
It is the opinion of the writer that modern lift services should provide a level of reliability, not exceeding five callouts per annum for its entire operationally efficient life.
When assessing reliability, a lift consultant should analyse the reasons and type of breakdowns occurring.
Poor reliability may or may not be cause for an upgrade. A proper and in-depth analysis of the root cause of breakdowns will determine if the maintenance contractor has fulfilled their requirements in this area.
