technicalstandardsforlifts.docVIP

Technical standards for lifts These devices can be marketed and put into service in the European Union (EU) only if they are not liable to endanger the health or safety of persons or property, when properly installed and maintained and used for their intended purpose. The Lifts Directive 95/16/EC (OJ L-213 07/09/1995) lays down the essential requirements to which lifts and their safety components must conform in manufacture and prior to being placed on the market. Product Scope The Directive applies to lifts permanently installed in buildings or constructions for the transport of persons and/or goods as well as to certain safety components for them (which are listed in its Annex IV). It does not cover lifts temporarily installed on construction sites, cableways and funicular railways, neither lifts installed on machinery or in mineshafts. 1. Essential requirements Lifts and safety components must satisfy the essential health and safety requirements set out in Annex I to the Directive. These requirements are related, among others, to the car construction, means of suspension and support, limitations to capacity, operation, safety and emergency facilities, fire safety, electrical safety, maintenance, marking and the user manual. Moreover, essential requirements set by the Construction Products Directive 89/106/EC (OJ L-040 11/02/1989) are also applicable for the aspects which come up at the installation of the lifts and which are not covered by the Lifts Directive. 2. Harmonised standards Harmonised standards are technical specifications that would enable to meet the essential requirements. Products manufactured according to these harmonised standards benefit from a presumption of compliance with the essential requirements. Harmonised standards are developed by the European Standardisation bodies: The European Committee for standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical standardisation (CENELEC) and published in the Official Journal of the Eur