What are the maintenance and inspection requirements for the lift in my building?

The Complementary Technical Instruction AEM 1 "Lifts" of the Regulation on lifting and handling equipment, contained in Royal Decree 88/2013, of 8 February, sets out the guidelines that the lift must follow (regardless of its speed, capacity or number of stops) to safeguard the safety of people and goods, as well as the conditions and deadlines for revision and inspection to maintain these guidelines.

In this article you will find a summary of the ITC (Complementary Technical Instruction) that will serve as a guide to find out if your lift is complying with the current legislation, which came into force on 23 February 2013.

Scope of application

This TSI applies to lifts permanently located in buildings with defined levels, intended for the transport of persons and/or objects, provided that at least one person can enter the lift car and can control the movement of the lift from inside.

Maintenance

1 - The owner of the lift (its owner or tenant) is responsible for its good working order and must contract a maintenance company to maintain it in good working order. On the other hand, he/she must communicate any breakdown or anomaly to the maintenance company, as well as stop the use of the lift and communicate it to the Public Administration, if there is no guarantee of safety.

2 - The owner must designate a person responsible for the lift, to whom the maintenance company will teach how to operate the apparatus.

3 - The frequency of the preventive maintenance visits to be carried out by the company in charge of checking the lift is as follows:

• Lifts in single-family dwellings or with a speed not exceeding 0.15 m/s: four months.
• Lifts in communal buildings for residential use with up to 6 stops and for public use with up to four stops: six weeks.
• Other lifts: one month.

4 - The maintenance company shall provide the owner of the lift with a bulletin stating the most important data of each visit. The maintenance company, in turn, will keep a maintenance register that can be consulted by both the owner and the Administration.

Statutory inspection

In addition to maintenance, the lift must undergo a periodic inspection by an authorised and impartial inspection body to certify that its operating and safety conditions are maintained. An inspection must also be carried out when the lift has been involved in an accident resulting in damage to persons or property and when required by the competent authority.

The deadlines governing the periodic inspection depend on the type of lift:

• Lifts installed in buildings for industrial use and places of public concurrence: every two years.
• Lifts installed in buildings with more than twenty dwellings or with more than four floors served: every four years.
• Lifts not included in the above cases: every six years.

The result of the lift inspection is reflected in the certificate issued by the inspection body and may be favourable (when there are no or only minor defects) or unfavourable (when there are serious or very serious defects).

If the inspected lift has minor defects, these shall be recorded on the certificate and rectified before the next inspection.

If there are serious defects, these must be corrected within six months and the lift must be re-inspected to certify that they have been corrected.

Finally, if it has very serious defects (which are those that constitute an imminent risk to people or may cause damage to the installation), the lift will automatically be taken out of service until it has been repaired, after which it will have to undergo a new inspection.

These are the main factors that you should take into account when maintaining and checking your lift. You can find more information and consult the full text of the provision published in the BOE by clicking here.