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There are thirteen safety rules in this article. Most buildings comply with eight of them routinely. The other five are where enforcement action actually happens. I’m Ross Darcy, Operations Manager at Future Lift Services. We hold CHAS, SMAS WorkSafe and SafeContractor accreditations and carry out LOLER statutory inspections across commercial and residential buildings in Essex and London. The rules below are not abstract compliance text — they are what I see applied, and ignored, on real inspections. The sections marked as most frequently violated are based on FLS inspection data from the past three years.
Mechanised transportation plays an increasingly vital part in the majority of modern structures to ensure the efficient movement of all occupants.
Passenger lifts and escalators (including moving walkways) are among the few modes of transportation that can be used continuously and unsupervised by anyone, from the very young to the old and infirm.
The usage of passenger elevators and escalators is a regular daily activity that many people do not believe to be a risk to themselves or others. They are among the safest modes of transportation, having been developed to meet stringent lifting equipment regulations, such as LOLER.
Although serious accidents involving lifts, stair lifts or escalators are uncommon, they do happen.
In this guide, we’ll cover some health and safety rules for conventional passenger lifts, which anyone who chooses to travel in one should follow. How often should a passenger lift be inspected depends on a variety of documents, schedules and the flow of passengers. Each lift should be individually inspected to decide on a maintenance schedule.
Passenger Lift Employer’s Duties
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) impose duties on employees for the installation, maintenance, operation, and evaluation of any lifting equipment or appliance used to lift weights, including passengers. Lifts must be strong and stable, as well as be properly positioned and fitted.
The following issues should be addressed while designing passenger lifts:
Lifting equipment used to transport people must keep anyone who uses it from being crushed, trapped, or stuck, or from falling from the carrier.
Lifting equipment used to hoist people must include mechanisms to reduce the risk of a carrier falling.
If a person becomes stuck in any lift car, they should not be in danger and should be able to be rescued.
Lifting equipment for lifting people must be properly evaluated every six months, or at shorter intervals if deemed suitable, or at the intervals stated under an examination system developed by a competent person.
Who Counts as a ‘Competent Person’ Under LOLER?
LOLER Regulation 9(3) requires that thorough examinations are carried out by a ‘competent person’ — defined as someone with sufficient knowledge, training and experience to recognise any defects or weaknesses and assess their importance. This means your internal maintenance team cannot carry out their own LOLER thorough examination. It must be an independent third party. Future Lift Services operates as an independent competent person for LOLER examinations across Essex and London. Our engineers carry out examinations that are entirely separate from any maintenance contract, ensuring the independence the regulation requires.
In other cases, the occupier may not have control over the lift equipment, such as when the building is rented or shared by more than one company. In these situations, it is critical that all parties are aware of their particular obligations and cooperate adequately to allow them to be implemented appropriately, as required by Regulation 11 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
13 Passenger Lift Safety Rules Your Building Needs
Here are some general passenger lift safety rules and lift regulations followed by what to do in an emergency situation.
Lift Safety Tips
1. Keep an eye on your step because the lift car may not be completely level with the floor.
2. Keep garments and carry-ons away from the doors and stand clear of them.
3. Children and pets should be held securely.
4. When the car arrives, passengers closest to the doors should move first.
5. If doors need to be held open, press and hold the DOOR OPEN button, or have someone push the button for you.
6. Never try to halt a closing door; instead, wait for another lift.
7. Take note of the floor markings.
8. Push the DOOR OPEN button if the doors do not open when the lift stops.
Most Frequently Violated by Buildings: Rules 1 and 8
From FLS inspection data, the most common user-side safety failure we see is doors not fully opening at floor level — a symptom of door contact alignment drift. This manifests as Rule 1 (uneven floor level) and Rule 8 (doors not opening correctly) becoming chronic issues rather than one-off faults.
Across our Essex and London South East portfolio, door contact and alignment faults account for approximately 34% of all reactive callouts. The fix is straightforward — door alignment is a standard maintenance task — but the frequency of the issue reflects buildings that have stretched their maintenance intervals too far. Under our service contracts, door alignment is checked at every scheduled visit.
Emergency Lift Rules and Advice
9. Do not panic if the lift ever stops between levels. The lift is filled with plenty of air.
10. Never attempt to exit a stalled lift.
11. To summon assistance, press the ALARM or HELP button, dial the phone, or use the intercom.
12. Above all, always wait for qualified assistance and never attempt to exit an elevator that has not stopped normally.
13. In the event of a power outage, emergency lighting will activate.
What Happens When Someone Gets Trapped: FLS Response Protocol
When we receive an entrapment callout, the FLS target response time is within two hours for standard service contract buildings, and within four hours for emergency-only clients. The engineer’s first action on arrival is always to confirm passenger safety via intercom before attempting any mechanical intervention. Attempting to manually open doors or move the car without first confirming the passenger’s position is a significant risk.
In our experience, the average time from callout receipt to passenger release is 45–60 minutes for standard entrapments where no mechanical fault has occurred — for example, a door safety circuit that tripped due to an object in the door path.
Routine Maintenance and Inspection Procedures for Lifts
Because the dangers posed by a lift failure are likely to result in significant injury to individuals, it is critical that they are examined, inspected, and maintained on a regular basis. This is to guarantee that any deterioration or potential failure of safety components is discovered and that appropriate corrective action is performed to avoid the threat.
Lifts must be thoroughly inspected in accordance with the LOLER requirements:
During the initial installation; if exposed to conditions likely to produce dangerous degradation, at least every six months, or more frequently if deemed suitable; at a reasonable frequency as decided by a competent person to detect any deterioration that could create danger; if involved in an accident or another hazardous event; following a considerable reconfiguration or change in operating conditions; and after long periods of inactivity (or during).
A thorough examination regime may check for and identify areas of poor maintenance, but it is not meant to replace or be mistaken with maintenance regimes.
Preventive maintenance seeks to guarantee that lifting equipment continues to function as intended while avoiding dangers associated with wear or degradation. Duty holders should ‘not wait for the results of a thorough examination before carrying out maintenance’ on lifting equipment, according to the HSE.
What Happens If Your Lift Fails a LOLER Inspection
When a lift fails a thorough examination, the competent person issues a defect report. Defects are classified in two categories: those that are an existing danger to persons (must be rectified before the lift can return to service) and those that could become a danger if remedial action is not taken within a specified period.
The HSE has enforcement powers including improvement notices and prohibition notices. A prohibition notice stops the lift from operating immediately. We have attended buildings where prohibition notices were issued following inspections carried out by other providers — the subsequent emergency repair and documentation process is significantly more expensive and disruptive than regular preventive maintenance would have been.
Looking for Expert Lift Inspections and Maintenance?
Passenger lift safety rules can keep your customers or residents safe when using your lift, but they also require routine maintenance and inspections to comply with regulations.
You have a legal obligation to meet all PUWER and LOLER regulations by taking every measure to protect the safety of persons who use your lift equipment. A qualified service provider can advise you on the regulations governing ongoing service and maintenance, ensuring you comply with PUWER while also performing the extensive examinations necessary by LOLER.
If your company makes use of passenger lifts, platform lifts, or other access equipment that elevates people, we can help with leading LOLER testing and certification.
We can also help with installation and maintenance service for lifts in workplaces, public structures, and other types of commercial buildings. Book your free, no-obligation quote today with Future Lift Services — a CHAS, SMAS WorkSafe and SafeContractor accredited lift company based in Essex and London.
Passenger Lift Safety Rules FAQs
Is a passenger lift covered by LOLER?
Duty holders are responsible for ensuring that elevators are inspected at the required intervals. LOLER inspections must be performed every 6 months for passenger lifts and every 12 months for freight lifts to verify their safety. A ‘competent person’ must inspect lifts and hoists used to lift people or goods.
What’s the difference between LOLER and PUWER?
PUWER addresses inspection, installation, maintenance, and suitability of work equipment, whereas LOLER takes a step further by addressing additional criteria for lifting equipment. As a result, it is common for both regulations to require implementation..