Lift user
When using the lift, your own actions are key for the safety of your lift journey.
Lift doors
Upon entering the lift, move to the back of the lift away from the doors.
If you are with small children, please ensure that their hands do not get trapped between the automatic sliding doors of the lift. If a child presses a hand on the door when it starts retracting, the small hand can easily get caught between the door blade and the jamb. The same danger is present at the landing doors.
If you have a pet with you, please make sure that the leash does not get caught between the doors, in the worst-case scenario leaving you and your pet on the opposite sides of the door. the consequences may be fatal when the lifts starts moving. Pets should be kept on a short leash when using a lift.
A great many injuries are caused by lift doors. If coattails or backpack straps are caught between the closing doors, the passenger is in immediate danger when the lift starts moving, When the doors start closing, there is also a danger of tripping over or crushing. The heavy metal doors of a goods and passenger lift can cause severe injuries to fingers caught between the doors.
Lifts with no car door
If you are carrying a large object, the safest place for you is adjacent to the side wall of the car.
Crushing is one of the major hazards in lifts with no car door. This type of lift car is quite typical for lifts constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. A large article carried in these lift cars can come in contact with the shaft wall while the lift is moving and turn sideways, crushing the passenger between the article and the rear wall of the car.
Clothing too can get stuck in the shaft wall.
Threshold
When entering or exiting the lift car, please beware of a potential difference in elevation between the lift and the room level. Especially old lifts may not necessarily stop quite accurately at the landing level. This can cause a passenger to trip or stumble, and hampers the accessibility of prams and wheelchairs.
Unintended stopping between levels
If the lift is stuck, please wait calmly for evacuation. Never try to force the lift doors open on your own.
Even well-maintained lifts can sometimes stop between two levels. Passengers trapped in the lift are not in any immediate danger, unless somebody is injured. Evacuation operation, however, should be executed without delay. In the lifts of old residential houses the emergency alarm push button activates a sound alarm audible only in the stairwell. In modern lifts, the control panel features a push button that opens a two-way communication channel to the service provider's on-duty emergency call centre. This enables the emergency call centre to provide the passengers with further instructions and to inform them of the rescue team's estimated time of arrival.
