Gareth Lomax provides a view from the lift industry.

With this month’s edition of Flat Living being dedicated to Fire Safety, it would be completely remiss to submit our article without touching on the tragedy in West London last year at Grenfell Tower and the loss of life that rocked the nation. I am sure as this edition of Flat Living will highlight, all property professionals have taken lessons from this terrible event which we all hope will prevent another disaster of this magnitude.

However, as those who keep a close eye on the news will know, Grenfell Tower was far from an isolated incident last year, with large fires in Manchester, Belfast and London all happening during the last months of 2017.

Know your lift

At Ardent Lift Consultancy we are regularly involved in building design work and as such, we get to implement applicable standards (BS9999, BS EN81-72, etc.) into building designs from the outset. Issues such as the top floor being greater than 18m above the entrance floor (or 10m below if a basement area) results in a firefighting lift being added into the building’s fire strategy.

Modern buildings (particularly high-rise properties) are very well considered from a firefighting/evacuation standpoint, but within properties built before circa 2000, the performance of the lifts in a fire scenario are often less reassuring, with control systems less capable to recognise and react to fire, door systems without sufficient fire ratings and in some instances, lift cars, guides and doors made of timber.

It is always good to “know your lift” and equally, fire risk assessments and consultation with the local fire officer is always important in ensuring that the lift’s role within the building in the event of fire is recognised and clearly identified.

British Standards for the fire safety of buildings recommend that lifts which are not required to operate in the event of fire (so lifts other than for firefighting use and evacuation lifts) are recalled and taken out of service.

The intention is to avoid passengers being trapped in lift cars and for fire and rescue service personnel to be able to rapidly check this.

BS 9991: 2015; Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings – Code of practice applies to residential buildings.  Clause 7.1 General includes: 

Where a fire alarm system covers the common areas and has a suitable electrical output signal, lifts other than fire-fighting and evacuation lifts should be recalled to an exit floor and then taken out of service in accordance with BS EN 81-73. Where there is no suitable fire alarm system, the lift should be recalled from a manual recall device in accordance with BS EN 81-73.

Many older residential properties we visit have no form of automatic interface between the lift and the fire alarm panel, meaning the lift will not respond in the event of fire. In those circumstances, it is critical that “do not use lift in event of fire” notices are clearly displayed on all floors and that recall switches are installed at the lowest floor.

Note: that fire recall operation should not be fitted to lifts intended for firefighting use or for evacuation, as its intention is to remove the lift from service in the event of fire and these lifts are critical to building strategies to battle fire/evacuate residents.

Key areas and characteristics of firefighting lifts

Some of the key areas and characteristics of firefighting lifts are as follows, as a guide for property managers and residents alike. The information references BS EN81-2 (BSI, 2014a), BS EN81-72 2015 and BS 9999.

Lift Requirements

• Firefighting lifts should be at least 630kg rated load; the internal dimensions of the lift car should be at least 1100mm wide by 1400mm deep.
• The rated speed should be sufficient to enable the lift to run the full travel in less than 60 seconds.
• Automatic power-operated doors should be provided, at least 800mm wide by 2000mm high with a fire rating of at least 1 hour.
• Lift position indicators should be provided both in the car and at the firefighters access level to show the car position at all times.
• A trap door should be provided in the lift car roof. For a 630kg lift this trapdoor should measure at least 0.4m x 0.5m, larger lifts 0.5m x 0.7m.
• Car buttons and controls should be protected from the effects of dripping water and, in addition should indicate the fire service level by use of a pictogram.
• Electrical equipment on the landings, within the lift car and lift well should be protected against the effects of dripping water (IP3 rated).
• An audible (and preferably also a visual) alarm should be provided within the lift shaft and machine room to alert lift maintenance personnel to the operation of the firefighting switch while on inspection control.
• The lift should have a secondary supply. In the event of loss of the mains supply and on establishment of the secondary supply, the lift should re-establish its position with only limited movement in the direction of the fire service access floor.
• Electrical trunking should be located 1m back from the front face of the lift shaft.

Building Requirements

• BS 9999 the standard suggests that buildings, or parts of buildings where either the height of the surface of the floor of the topmost storey (excluding plant rooms) exceeds 18m or the depth of the surface of the floor of the lowermost storey exceeds 10m, should be provided with a firefighting shaft containing firefighting stair, a firefighting lobby with a fire main, and a firefighting lift.
• The location of the firefighting shafts should be such that they allow access to every part of the storey that they serve and should, wherever possible, be located against an exterior wall. If it is not possible to locate the firefighting shaft against an exterior wall, the route from the fire service entrance to the firefighting shaft (protected corridor) should be as short as possible and preferably not more than 18m in length. It should be protected by fire-resisting construction to ensure that fire does not affect the route or cut off the means of escape for fire service or other personnel within the building.
• The layout of the firefighting shaft at fire service level should be arranged so that firefighters and persons escaping down the firefighting stair do not get in each-others way.
• It should not be necessary for persons escaping down the stair to pass through the firefighting lobby at fire service access level.
• Where a protected corridor for firefighting access also forms part of means of escape from the accommodation it should be 500mm wider than that required for means of escape purposes (to allow room for fire service personnel to move towards the firefighting shaft) and the lobby should have a minimum area of 5m2 clear of any escape routes so that it can act as a fire service mustering point.
• The firefighting lobby at fire service access level should be big enough to act as a command post where firefighters and firefighting equipment can be safely assembled.

Gareth Lomax is the Managing Director of Ardent Lift Consultancy who provide a range of services to assist with your lift or lift portfolio.