INDIAN ELEVATOR TECHNOLOGY

“The increasing demand for elevators and escalators is estimated at 20 per cent, annually, in Mumbai. The sad part is that despite lift sales booming, there exist only ‘recommended’ safety standards and not ‘mandatory’ standards. Mumbai still relies on the archaic Bombay Lifts Act, 1958. Every lift should be checked twice in a year by the government agencies, but this is rarely done physically, although it is shown on paper,” laments Sharma. Advocate Vinod Sampat says it should go beyond legal issues. “It is a matter of safety. Human lives are at stake,” he says. “The residents and the managing committees of residential housing societies should not neglect their responsibilities. Currently, the trend is that the cheapest contractor gets the maintenance job. This needs to change,” he insists. Sharma points out that inspection of lifts is done by the Public Works Department of the state government. In Mumbai, there are less than 50 PWD engineers and there are more than 40,000 l

The space constraint has forced the construction industry to move vertically in metro cities in India. As the building height increases, the need for enhanced elevator speed also increases. This has opened new avenues of technology for the elevator manufacturer in India. Rajnikant Lad, Chartered Engineer & Elevator consultant at Shree Jee Elevator Consultants gives an account of the latest innovations and options available in the field of vertical transportation. Building height is the main deciding factor for the speed of the elevator. With an increase in speed, we have to meet new challenges of riding comfort, operational efficiency, energy efficiency, earthquake consideration and many more aspect of safety and rescue during emergencies. This has made the elevator industry more and more technology-driven. We see a fast change in elevator requirement in the country which has gone up to 40,000­45,000 per year and is bound to increase year by year. The elevators with speeds

Speaking to building owners, building managers and society office-bearers about contracts and accidents by Rajnikant Lad In case of any lift accident in which death is reported, the lift service provider and society office bearer may come across numerous problems and have to face a lot of hardship until the accident investigation concludes. Even then, those involved are not tension-free until the court case ends. The service provider, being in the same field, knows the process involved in such cases well and will be well-equipped with required resources. The lift is used by the person who suffers the accident and is maintained by the lift service provider. The accident could be caused by reasons such as component failure, safety bypass and improper use or rescue procedure. It can be labelled either technical failure or negligence. There is no direct role of the society office bearer in any accident case, except for a few things like service provider recommendations not fol