Do I need a lift inspection?
If you’re the landlord of a commercial property, or responsible for managing one, it is imperative that you understand all your obligations as set out in the lease, including those relating to PAT testing.
If you own a property that houses a lift which carries passengers, you are required by law to carry out a lift inspection every six months. If your lift carries goods only, you are required to carry out an annual inspection.
What are my obligations?
If you are a lift owner, or someone responsible for the safe operation of a lift, then by definition under The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), you are the duty holder and therefore legally responsible for ensuring the lift is thoroughly examined and safe to use.
What does a thorough examination involve?
The legal requirements are that a competent person e.g. a lift engineer, must carry out a systematic and detailed examination of not just the lift itself but of all its component parts.
As duty holder, the responsibility is multifaceted:
- Select the competent person and ensure they are qualified.
- Ensure the lift is examined at its statutory interval (every 6 or 12 months)
- Keep records of all inspections and be prepared to provide them upon request.
- If you are notified of a defect, you should immediately take the lift out of service until it is satisfactorily repaired and signed off.
- Ensure all documents comply with the regulations.
What are the implications of non-compliance?
Failure to maintain your lift can result in horrific injuries and fatalities for which you will be prosecuted.
You have a legal responsibility to your tenants but are you sure you comply?
We can help you to keep your building compliant and the people in it happy and safe. We can ensure that your building maintenance, including the maintenance of lifts, fulfils all legal requirements and responsibilities.
The simplest way to achieve this is to put a Darenth Valley planned and preventative maintenance (PPM) contract in place, which can cover any or all of the Maintenance Essentials.
If you would like to arrange lift maintenance, or discuss putting a PPM agreement in place please contact Alex Tait our Business Development Manager.
Do our Happy Building Health Check
We’ve identified 12 areas of essential maintenance for keeping commercial property compliant and created a Happy Building Health Check chart. If compliance is your responsibility download it and check that your building complies.