Issue 4/2009


07/02/09

Use of lifts in an emergency: The European Experience

Nickos Spyropoulos, Lazaros Asvestopoulos and Lefteris Rousoudis

During the last decades, significant improvements of the quality and safety of the lifts have been taken place on a European level. This is due both to the modern technological advancements achieved in the sector and the compulsory application of the Lift Directive 95/16/EC. One area of concern, in order to reach the desirable quality and safety standards of the lifts, is their use in a building during emergency outbreaks. This article aims to illustrate the experience gained by the Europeans regarding the use of such lifts as described on the requirements introduced by the new European Standards.
Category: Issue 4/2009
Posted by: Editor

1. Introduction

During the last years and especially following the devastating events of September 11, 2001, a vital debate and a series of research activities have been initiated regarding the operation of lifts in buildings during emergency situations. The technological development in the field of automatism has allowed the improvement of lifts, demonstrated in their ability to perform more complex operations. This article presents the experience gained in Europe from the operation of lifts in emergency situations. The acquired experience has been integrated in the harmonized standards, as well as the standards under development, of the European lift industry.
2. The firefighters lifts
2.1 What is a firefighters lift and when required
A ‘firefighters lift’ is a lift installed primarily for passengers use, that has additional protection, controls and signals that enable it to be used under the direct control of the fire service. Firefighters lifts are not required in all type of buildings. In the European Union the installation of such lifts depends solely on the national building codes and the legislation of each member state.
The British standard BS 5588-8, for instance, suggests that firefighters lifts are required in buildings, that have occupied space more than 18 m above and/or 9 m below the fire access level for every 900 m2 of building footprint or part there of, in Greece the Building Fire Regulations of 1988 requires a firefighters lift to be installed in every building higher than 28 m, in hospitals higher than 12 m, in education buildings higher than 15 m, etc.
2.2 The harmonized standard EN 81-72 for firefighters lifts
The standard EN 81-72 published in 2003 in order to define in detail the requirements of the firefighters lifts and of course, as a harmonized standard to remove trade barriers and facilitate industry uptake. The basic requirements of the standard are examined below.
2.2.1 The fundamental requirements
The fundamental requirements of EN 81-72 are the following:
  • The firefighters lift shall be designed in conformity with EN 81-1 and 2 and provided with additional protection, controls and signals.
  • A firefighters lift shall serve every floor of the building.
  • The minimum dimensions of the car shall be 1100 mm wide and 1400 mm deep with a rated load of 630 kg. In cases where the intended use aims to include evacuation, to accommodate such items as a stretcher or bed or designed as a dual entry firefighters lift, the minimum rated load shall be 1000 kg and the dimensions of the car 1100 mm wide and 2100 mm deep.
  • Automatically operated horizontal sliding car and landing doors shall be used. The minimum clear entrance width to the car shall be 800 mm.
  • The firefighters lift shall reach the furthest floor from the fire service access level within 60 sec after the closing of the lift doors.
2.2.2 The fire protected lobby
Besides the above fundamental requirements, it is crucial that the standard EN 81-72 applies only to firefighters lift equipped with a fire-protected lobby in front of every landing door. The fire-protected lobby is defined as a fire protected environment-providing access to the usage area of the building to the firefighters lift. Figure 1 shows a typical configuration of firefighters lift and fire protected lobby.
2.2.3 Firefighters operation
As it has already been highlighted a firefighters lift in normal conditions serves users, like every common lift. According to EN 81-72, a firefighters switch shall be used for the transition from normal to firefighting operation. This switch shall be located in the lobby of firefighters service access level and its operation shall be by means of the emergency unlocking triangle key. The operating positions of the switch shall be clearly marked `1’ and ‘0’. In position ‘1’ firefighters service is initiated.
EN 81-72 defines two phases of firefighters lift operation. Phase 1 can be manually (by the firefighters switch) or automatically (additional external control or input) initiated and aims to give priority recall to the firefighters lift.
The initiation intends to ensure that landing and car controls will be rendered inoperative, all registered calls will be canceled and the car will travel to the fire service access level and be retained there with the doors opened where phase 2 starts.
In phase 2 the control will be exerted entirely from the car control panel. It shall not be possible to register more than one car call simultaneously and the registration of the car call shall cause the lift car to travel to the selected floor remain with the doors closed. It shall be possible to control the opening of the doors only by the application of constant pressure on the door open car button.
2.2.4 Protection of electrical equipment against water
EN 81-72/§ 5.3 also requires the protection of electrical equipment against water. Since the fire service is expected to use water while fighting a fire, it should be ensured that lift operation will not be influenced by water falling in lift parts.
2.2.5 Power supplies
The building management shall take care to provide a primary and a secondary (emergency) power supply for the lift and lighting. The secondary power supply shall be sufficient to run the lift at the rated load and at such a speed that lift can reach the furthest floor from the fire service access level within 60 sec after the closing of the lift doors.
2.2.6 Fire service communication system
The lift shall have an intercom system or similar device for interactive two-way speech communication, whilst the firefighters lift is in Phases 1 and 2, between the firefighters lift car and:
a) The fire service access level; and
b) The firefighters lift machine room or in the case of machine room less lifts at the emergency operation panel (s)
3. Behaviour of lifts in the event of fire
3.1 What should happen to the lift in the event of fire?
Generally, it is a hazardous situation to use lifts whilst a fire exists in the building. In some instances, locally required notices can be found such as ‘Do not use lifts in case of fire’. This has the consequence that persons may be able to use lifts whilst a fire is in the building due to the fact that they are not aware of this potential critical situation and the lifts are not taken out of service. Excluding some particular cases, e.g. firefighters lift, it is not intended that lifts should be used in the event of fire.
3.2 The harmonized standard EN 81-73 for the behaviour of lifts in case of fire
The standard EN 81-73 is published in 2005 in order to specify the provisions and safety rules that will ensure the good behavior of lifts in the event of fi re in a building, on the basis of a signal(s) from the fire alarm detection system to the lift(s) control system. A brief description of the requirements of EN 81-73 is given below.
3.2.1 Input signals to the lift
A very important assumption of EN 81-73 is that the building is equipped with special devices that transmit input signals to the lift. This can be an automatic fire detection system or a manual recall device.
Lift control system determines the reaction of the lift on receipt of signals from the fire detection system.
3.2.2 Behaviour of the lift on the receipt of fire detection signals
The principle of the reaction of the lift in the event of fire is to return the car to a designated landing (usually the ground floor) and allow any passengers to exit.
When a signal indicating a fire is received all landing controls and car controls including the “door re-open button” shall be rendered inoperative and all existing registered calls shall be cancelled.
On arriving at the designated landing lift shall park there with the car and landing doors open or unlocked (for manual operated doors) and be removed from service.
3.2.3 Reset to normal operation
The lift will automatically be reset to normal operation by:
a) an electrical signal from the automatic fire detection system when it is reset; or
b) the reset of the manual recall device designed in such a way that this reset can be done only by authorized persons.
3.2.4 Prohibition sign
A prohibition sign shall be displayed near the lift so that it is easily seen on all landings. The size of this sign shall be at least 50 mm and the graphical symbol shall be as shown in Figure 2. The text ‘Do not use lift in the event of fire’ may be added to the pictogram.
4. Evacuation of disabled persons using lifts
4.1 The present status in Europe
At present, there are no European and only few national lift regulations that include specifications related to the evacuation of buildings by people with impaired mobility using lifts. Lifts are rarely considered as a way to escape in case of evacuation. In the event of an emergency, the occupants will usually evacuate a building by means of stairways.
Consequently, people with impaired mobility may experience difficulty and delay during evacuation.
4.2 The British standard BS 5588-8
This standard provides guidance for evacuation procedures including evacuationlifts as one means of escape for disabled people.
In general, the requirements of BS 5588-8 for an evacuation lift are similar to those for a firefighting lift, except of the operation and communication arrangements are different. A firefighters lift can be used as an evacuation lift.
Evacuation lifts are provided to facilitate the egress of persons with impaired mobility in the event of a fire or other incident. The evacuation is always supervised and persons should not attempt self-rescue.
4.3 The European technical report PrCEN/TR 81-76
In European level, a technical report (EN 81-76) is under preparation that time aims to provide rules for the intended use of the lift by people with impaired mobility in order to assist the evacuation of a building.
It specifies the special provisions and safety rules to assist persons with impaired mobility to safely evacuate a building using lifts with authorized assistance.
4.3.1 Function of the lift in evacuation mode
TR 81-76 defines two types of evacuation of disabled people with impaired mobility:
  • Evacuation under the control of a “fi re assistant” who controls the lift as an attendant (lift driver).
Where the principle of the function of the lift in the evacuation mode is to return the car to the designated landing and allow any passengers to exit and stand at this level with doors opened. Furthermore an attendant will take the control of the lift by the use of a priority key in the car. Users shall be informed that the use of the lift is reserved for the evacuation of disabled.
  • Self-evacuation without lift attendant (automatic collective control), or assisted if required by the “fire assistants” appointed at each level.
Where the principle of the function of the lift in the evacuation mode is to return the car to the designated landing and allow any passengers to exit and return the lift in service with landing and car buttons operative for the use of the lift by trained persons (“fire assistants”) in order to help the evacuation of people with impaired mobility.
5. Lifts subject to seismic conditions
Earthquakes are widespread in Europe. The most destructive events occurred in the Mediterranean countries, particularly Greece, Italy and Turkey, which are in the collision zone between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. Albania and Romania have experienced major earthquakes. Smaller earthquakes are also felt by other nations, although the damage caused is usually restricted.
However, in Europe there is lack of experience concerning the behaviour of lifts during seismic events. Recently, a working group of CEN was established in order to carry out a new standard (EN 81-77) for lifts in seismic conditions.
The principle of an earthquake resistant lift according to American (ASME A17.1) and Japanese codes is to avoid entrapments of users in the car. This can be achieved by the mechanical reinforcement of critical parts of lift and a control system based on the detection of the seismic waves.
References
ASME – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2007). ASME A17.1-2007 / CSA B44-07 – Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators
Barney G. (2003). Vertical transportation in tall buildings. Elevator World, Vol. LI, NO.5, pp 66 – 75
BSI (1999). BS 5588-8: Fire precautions in the design, construction and use of buildings – Part 8: Code of practice for means of escape for disabled people
CEN – European Committee for Standardization (1998). EN 81-1: 1998 Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – Part 1: Electric lifts
CEN – European Committee for Standardization (1998). EN 81-2: 1998 Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – Part 2: Hydraulic lifts
CEN – European Committee for Standardization (2003). EN 81-72: 2003 Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – Particular applications for passenger and goods passenger lifts – Part 72: Fire-fighters lifts
CEN – European Committee for Standardization (2005). EN 81-73: 2005 Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – Particular applications for passenger and goods passenger lifts – Part 73: Behaviour of lifts in the event of fi re
CEN – European Committee for Standardization (2006). PrCEN/TR 81-76:2006 Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – Particular applications for passenger and goods passenger lifts – Part 76: Evacuation of disabled persons using lifts
CIBSE (2005). GuideD Transportation systems in buildings. 6-3 p.p.
European Council and Parliament Directive 95/16/EC of 29 June 1995 (Lifts Directive)

 

4/2009

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