For safety reasons, the installation of lifts without pit/ headroom space shall be subjected, with immediate effect, to prior approval by the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate of the Malta Standards Authority, the Department of Information said yesterday.

Paragraph 2.2 of Schedule I of Legal Notice 370 of 2002: Lifts Regulations, 2002, specifically prescribes that:

“2.1. The lift must be designed and constructed to ensure that the space in which the car travels is inaccessible except for maintenance or in emergencies. Before a person enters that space, normal use of the lift must be made impossible.

2.2. The lift must be designed and constructed to prevent the risk of crushing when the car is in one of its extreme positions.

The objective will be achieved by means of free space or refuge beyond the extreme positions.

However, in specific cases, in affording member states the possibility of giving prior approval, particularly in existing buildings, where this solution is impossible to fulfil, other appropriate means may be provided to avoid this risk.”

This means that all architects, engineers, notified bodies and installers are legally obliged to seek written approval from the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate of the Malta Standards Authority prior to, respectively, commission, specify, certify and install any new lift without pit/ headroom space.

In this exceptional case, an evaluation report drawn up with the corroboration of the pertinent notified body has to be submitted in support of the claim in order for the directorate to be able to assess the impossibility (or otherwise) of installing a “normal” lift with free space or refuge beyond the extreme positions.

A “Guidelines for the administration of the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate’s Responsibilities under the Lifts Regulations 2002, Schedule 1: Essential Health and Safety Requirement 2.2. (Hazards to persons outside the lift car: preventing the risk of crushing when the car is in one of the extreme positions)”, has been prepared and can be viewed/downloaded from the directorate’s official website: www.msa.org.mt/cigd/index.

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Any queries on this matter are to be referred to the Head, Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate of the Malta Standards Authority, i.e. Ing. Anthony Camilleri at: anthony.

[email protected] or phone: 2125-5545 (direct) /2124- 2420 (general) or fax: 2124-2406.