Intended to make life easier for the inhabitants of a building or a condominium, convenience of access for people with reduced mobility and seniors or an essential criterion in the search for real estate…, elevators are supposed to be reliable and secure equipment. Used daily and repeatedly, lifts require special attention to maintain their proper functioning and reduce the risk of breakdown. Without forgetting the safety of users of course!
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The French park of lifts has some 600,000 devices according to the lift federation. But, as the group of professionals points out in this same report, 50% of them are over 25! So to guarantee the proper functioning of this sometimes dilapidated equipment, a maintenance contract with an elevator contractor is essential.
You are not obliged to choose the manufacturer of the device to carry out this maintenance service. A company such as KONE can easily take care of the maintenance and checks to be carried out over the months. This concerns in particular safety devices such as the locking of doors and their detection system, protection against free fall and to facilitate inspection maneuvers, access for intervention personnel… but also the elements of assistance such as alarm, telecommunications and emergency lighting.
The specificities of the elevator maintenance contract
The buildings professionals and health, private residences, commercial establishments or hotels all require impeccable equipment. This is why a contract of lift maintenance must be put in place in order to meet the obligations and standards in force. Otherwise, the owner of the lift is liable to a fine of €450 and to prosecution in the event of a accident.
In most maintenance contracts, the clauses are quite similar and establish the outlines of the interventions:
- preventive verification visits should be planned every six weeks maximum;
- other, even more detailed and specific checks are to be scheduled at least once a year or twice a year;
- the contract must also stipulate the time guarantees for intervention in the event of a breakdown. Very often, professionals act within about four hours during working days;
- Another important element that must be included in the contract is the response time for “extrication”, in other words when users remain stuck in the cabin. On average, this delay is one hour. Whatever happens, lift operators must be available 7 days a week and 24 hours a day to unblock people in the event of a technical incident.
In addition, a maintenance log which lists all the interventions and inspections carried out must be updated. In particular, it allows detailed monitoring of equipment maintenance.
Before closing our article, let’s also remember that, in addition to the regular maintenance of liftsowners must also have a technical inspection carried out every five years by requesting the services of an authorized external company.
Article produced in partnership with KONE
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