Health and Safety at Work (Lifts) (Jersey) Regulations, 1990.
Application for certificate of exemption for lift installed at
United Club, Royal Square, St Helier.
1. Summary
The Health and Safety at Work (Lifts) (Jersey) Regulations, 1990, (the Lift Regulations) were introduced by the States in 1990 to establish minimum standards of safety at lift installations in workplaces. In certain circumstances, the Minister is able to grant an exemption from the requirements of the Lift Regulations.
The Inspectorate has been notified of a lift installation at United Club, Royal Square, St Helier, where the retrofitting of a safety device, an overspeed governor, which is required in order to comply with the Lift Regulations, is not considered to be ‘reasonably practicable’.
It is therefore recommended that, subject to a condition, the Minister for Social Security grant an exemption from the requirements of the Lift Regulations, for the fitting of an overspeed governor to the installation.
2. The Health and Safety at Work (Lifts) (Jersey) Regulations, 1990.
The Lift Regulations set out detailed requirements for the construction, maintenance, thorough examination and use of non-domestic lift installations.
Regulation 4(1) requires every lift to be thoroughly examined by a competent person every 6 months, with Regulation 4(6) requiring any defect which could affect the safety of the installation to be notified to a Health and Safety Inspector. This thorough examination is generally carried out by an Engineer Surveyor employed by an Engineering Inspection Body.
Additional requirements for passenger lift installations are set out in Regulation 8, with Regulation 8 (d) stating:
d) there shall be provided and maintained efficient devices which will support the lift car together with its safe working load in the event of failure or breakage of the ropes, chains, hydraulic or other lifting devices.
This requirement sets out the legal basis for the fitting of safety gear and other safety devices, such as an overspeed governor, to lift installations.
At the time that the Lift Regulations were introduced it was thought that there may be a number of historic lift installations which would not meet the standard of a new lift installation. Provision was therefore made under Regulation 9 allowing the Minister to grant an exemption from all or any of the requirements of the Regulations, where the Minister was satisfied that the requirements were not necessary for the protection of employees or were not ‘reasonably practicable’.
Regulation 9 states:
The Minister may (subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified therein) by certificate in writing (which may at the Minister’s discretion be revoked at any time) exempt from all or any of the requirements of these Regulations –
(a) any particular plant or equipment or any class or description of plant or equipment; or
(b) any particular work or class of work,
if the Minister is satisfied that the requirements in respect of which the exemption is granted are not necessary for the protection of persons employed or are not reasonably practicable.
The application for an exemption must therefore demonstrate that either there is no reduction in the safety of persons using the lift or it is not ‘reasonably practicable’ to comply with the Lift Regulations. The standard required for an exemption to be granted is therefore very demanding. In the case where an exemption is on the basis that complying with the legal requirement is not ‘reasonably practicable’, the legal interpretation of the term “reasonably practicable” must be met. This phrase has been interpreted by the Courts as a need to balance the sacrifice, either in money, time or trouble, on the one hand, against the nature of the risk involved on the other hand. Where the sacrifice is grossly disproportionate to the risks involved, it is not considered to be ‘reasonably practicable’.
3. Safety Systems
Lifts are provided with several safety systems which help to prevent the lift car falling down the lift shaft in the event of a failure of the lift mechanism. For example, in the case of lifts which are supported by ropes, there will be additional ropes provided to those simply required to support the lift car so that, in the event of failure of a rope, the lift car will remain supported.
Another safety feature is safety gear which, should there be a failure of the suspension ropes supporting the lift car, clamps the lift car to the guide rails within which the lift car travels.
Improvements to the standards which set out the safety of lift installations have also resulted in the introduction of a device termed an ‘overspeed governor’, which stops the lift car should it operate above the lift installation’s designed speed.
The requirement for such safety systems for passenger lifts is set out in Regulation 8 of the Lift Regulations.
4. Background to the request for exemption from Regulation 8(d)
In accordance with the requirement under Regulation 4 (6), the Health and Safety Inspectorate has been notified that the lift installation at United Club, Royal Square, St Helier does not meet the requirements of Regulation 8(d). It is not known why this installation has not previously been brought to the attention of the Inspectorate.
Although normally, in such circumstances, an overspeed governor would be required to be fitted, confirmation has been received from Rob Willder Lifts Limited, the Company who maintain the lift, that it is not reasonably practicable to fit such a device to the existing installation.
It is therefore only possible for the requirements of Regulation 8(d) to be fully complied with if the existing lift installation is replaced by a new modern installation. As a result, an application for an exemption from Regulation 8(d) has been received from the United Club (1932) Ltd, who are responsible for the current lift installation.
5. Comment
There is no doubt that the fitting of an overspeed governor improves the safety of passengers travelling in a lift and is recognised in European Standards for lift installations[1], as being a high priority to be retrofitted to existing passenger lifts.
However, the standard also recognises that these requirements may not be able to be applied to all installations due to the constraints of building design etc.
Whilst, ultimately, it is for the Courts to decide on the interpretation of whether a particular circumstance is deemed to be not ‘reasonably practicable’, it is considered, on the basis of the confirmation provided to the Inspectorate, that it is not possible to install an overspeed governor device to the installation; it would not be ‘reasonably practicable’ to apply Regulation 8(d) to the fitting of such a device, as this would result in the lift installation having to be taken out of use.
In granting an exemption, the Minister is able to place such conditions as he considers appropriate to be applied to the exemption. It is therefore advised that, should the Minister agree to the granting of an exemption, a condition is placed on the exemption requiring the installation to be subjected to such supplementary examination as may be deemed necessary by the competent person carrying out the thorough examination required by Regulation 4(1).
Exemptions for similar reasons have been given in the past with the Minister for Social Security requiring that the granting of the exemption be reviewed after 5 years.
6. Recommendation
It is recommended that the Minister grants an exemption from the requirements of Regulation 8(d) of the Lift Regulations in respect of the requirement to fit an overspeed governor to the following lift installation at the United Club:
Manufacturer: Pickering
Description: Passenger/Goods Lift PGL11000
Date of manufacture: 1968
Serial Number: 681116
In addition, it is also recommended that the issue of an exemption be subject to the following condition:
The lift installation be subjected to such supplementary examination as may be deemed necessary by the competent person carrying out the thorough examination required by Regulation 4(1).
Kirstyne O’Brien
Health and Safety Inspector
Social Security 20th May 2014
Kirstyne O’Brien
gov.je