Lift Report

The conference began with a review of the world’s elevator business and an “inventory” of installed capacity. It was found that about 500,000 units were installed in 2009, of which 63 % were in the Asia-Pacific Region, 30 % in Europe, Russia and the Near East, and 7 % in the Americas. The number of systems currently in use was cited as ten million. These are distributed as follows: 30 % in the Asia-Pacific area, 14 % in the Western Hemisphere and 56 % in Europe, Russia and the Near East.

The total revenue volume for new equipment and service work is estimated to be about forty million dollars (2009), with customer service accounting for about 60 %. Of this figure, 37 % is generated in the Asia-Pacific region, 23 % in the Americas and 40% in Europe, Russia and the Near East.

ISO/TC 178 comprises ten working groups, of which only seven are active at present. In contrast to the European regulations specific to elevators, worked out under the purview of the CEN, the documents drafted by the ISO have no direct influence on the marketing of elevators in Europe . They are generally quite helpful documents which can be referred to whenever one is dealing with circumstances not covered by the Machinery Directive or Lifts Directive (e. g. noise abatement, travel comfort) or in regard to dimensional standards such as the ISO 4190 series, reflected in DIN 15 306, DIN 15 309 and DIN 15 325 in Germany. Over an above that, technical reports are prepared and fundamental health and safety requirements are drawn up. They might later be incorporated during the revision of EN 81-1 and 81-2 or even result in an entirely new EN ISO-standard.

Three standards have been published since the last general meeting in the autumn of 2008. These are ISO 14 798 – “Risk assessment and reduction methodology”, ISO 22 200 – “Electromagnetic compatibility – Product family standard for lifts, escalators and moving walks – Immunity”, and ISO 22 201 – “Design and development of programmable electronic systems in safety- related applications for lifts (PESSRAL)”. Three further documents are now in the final pre-printing stages. These are ISO/ TS 22 559-2 – “Safety parameters”, ISO/ TR 25 743 – “Study of the use of lifts for evacuation during an emergency”, and ISO 4190-1 (revision) – “Class I, II, III and VI lifts”. Two documents are currently in the enquiry stage: ISO/DTS 22559-3, “Global conformity assessment procedures (GCAP) – General requirements” and ISO/ DTS 22 559-4 – “Global conformity assessment procedures (GCAP) – Certification and accreditation requirements”.

Initial discussions paid attention to formal and policy topics such as liaison with other technical committees, appointing the persons responsible for liaison, new tools for Web conferences and database concepts, along with organizational changes in the ISO structure. All this was followed by the reports of the working groups and decisions on the future work program.

The following decisions are of particular interest. Working Group 4 prepared a comparison between the fundamental requirements of the Lifts Directive and the global, basic requirements of ISO/TS 22 559-1. This report has been submitted to the European Commission, with an answer expected to be received by May 2010. A similar situation is developing in regard to escalators; a comparison of the fundamental safety requirements of the Machinery Directive and of Technical Specification 25 740-1 was presented.

Working Group 6 has decided to revise ISO 4190-1. Because of the great variety involved, it will follow existing practice and not deal with “machine-roomless” elevators in the future. Moreover, the preparation of a technical specification for evacuation lifts is to be taken up.

Further discussion centered on the fact that, to an increasing extent, committees devoted to construction technology are lodging claims on lifts and escalators in regard to barrier-free access. These do not fall within the applications and scopes defined in the standards. In some cases they also involve additional design requirements or demands that deviate from the prevailing harmonized European standards. This phenomenon, which has been observed not only at ISO, makes its way down to the national level, as was evidenced in the preparation of DIN 18 040. As regards work at ISO, the corresponding letter will be sent to ISO/TC 59 – the committee responsible for building construction – to point out the technical expertise available at ISO/ TC 178.

ISO 22199 and ISO 22 200 have the greatest influence on current European standards in the area of electromagnetic compatibility. These are, over the medium term, to be merged with the two European standards (EN 12 015 and EN 12 016), thus becoming EN-ISO standards. Something similar has already been planned for ISO 22 201 in reference for programmable electronic controls for elevators, escalators and moving walkways.

The initial draft of ISO 25 745-1, which regulates measurements carried out in conjunction with energy efficiency, was rejected. Subsequently the document was thoroughly reworked. Here the interests of the escalator industry were taken fully into account. The document was to be circulated for a new enquiry round at the beginning of May, 2010.

Dating back to 2008 is a resolution that deals with preparing a standard for increasing safety in existing lifts. Since the revision of EN 81-1 and 81-2 will also be accompanied by a revamping of EN 81-80, ISO will not undertake any activities for the time being. It was agreed, however, to prepare a technical specification detailing the methods prescribed in EN 81-80. In this context the Chinese representatives added that EN 81-80 would be adopted as national law in the middle of this year.