BS EN 81-80:2019

What is  BS EN 81‑80-Safety of existing lifts about?  

BS EN 81 discusses safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts. BS EN 81‑80 gives a methodology for improving the safety of existing lifts with the aim of reaching an equivalent level of safety to that of a newly installed lift by the application of today’s state-of-the-art for safety. 

BS EN 81‑80 applies to permanently installed passenger or goods passenger lifts, with traction, 

positive or hydraulic drive serving defined landing levels, having a car designed for the transportation of persons or persons and goods, and moving along guide rails inclined not more than 15° to the vertical. 

BS EN 81‑80 includes the improvement of the safety of existing lifts for: 

• Passengers 
• Maintenance and inspection personnel 
• Persons outside the well, machinery space(s) and the pulley room(s) (but in their immediate vicinity) 
• Any other authorized persons 

Note: BS EN 81‑80 is not applicable to: 

• Lifts with drive systems others than those mentioned above 
• Lifting appliances such as paternosters, mine lifts, theatre lifts, appliances with automatic caging, skips, lifts and hoists for building and public works sites, ships’ hoists, platforms for exploration or drilling at sea, construction and maintenance appliances 
• Installations where the inclination of the guide rails to the vertical exceeds 15° 
• Lifting appliances with a rated speed lower than or equal to 0,15 m/s 
• Safety during transport, installation, repairs, and dismantling of lifts 

Who is BS EN 81‑80-Safety of existing lifts for? 

BS EN 81‑80 on safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts (safety of existing lifts) is useful for: 

• Health and safety bodies 
• Lift manufacturers 
• Lift owners 
• Builders 
• Estate managers 
• Lift maintenance and inspection personnel 

Why should you use BS EN 81‑80-Safety of existing lifts? 

More than 6 million lifts are in use today (2019) in Europe and approximately 50 % were installed more than 20 years ago. Lifts were installed to the safety level appropriate at the time of installation. This level is often lower than today’s state-of-the-art for safety. New technologies, experiences, and social expectations have led to today's state-of-the-art for safety. This has led to the situation today with different levels of safety, causing accidents. In addition, there is a growing trend for people to live longer and for disabled people to expect access and design for all. Therefore, it is especially important to provide a safe means of vertical transport for elderly and disabled persons. 

BS EN 81‑80 can be used as a guideline for:  

National authorities to determine their own program of implementation in a step by process via a filtering process in a reasonable and practicable1) way based on level of risk (e.g. high, medium, low) and social and economic considerations. 

Owners to follow their responsibilities according to existing regulations. 

Maintenance companies and/or inspection bodies inform the owners of the safety level of their installations and propose risk reduction measures. 

Owners to upgrade their existing lifts on a voluntary basis in accordance with 3) if no regulations exist. 

What’s changed since the last update?  

BS EN 81‑80:2019 supersedes BS EN 81‑80:2003, which is withdrawn. BS EN 81‑80:2019 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN 81‑80:2003. These include: 

• Eleven new hazards have been added which are now covered in EN 81-20 or which have been identified by risk assessment 
• Due to these new hazards the numbering has been changed in order to keep a logical order of hazards following the sequence in EN 81-20:—; however for tracking purposes the hazard numbers of EN 81-80:2003 are listed in a separate column 
• The methodology for the identification of hazards, the evaluation of the hazardous situations and the risk levels as well as the classification of priority levels including the filtering process have been moved to Clause 5 
• All technical requirements for protective measures have been incorporated in the checklist in the 
• Normative Annex A which combines now the previous chapter 5 and the previous checklist in Annex A this combination prevents duplication of technical requirements in the standard and allows simplification of its use 
• The checklist also contains a column in which the risk levels and subsequent priority levels for items in compliance with EN 81-1:1998 and EN 81-2:1998 or items upgraded according to EN 81-80:2003 are listed in relation to today’s state-of-the-art according to EN 81-20