Every day, people use tens of thousands of lifts in locations including office buildings, car parks and residential complexes. For lifts to be used safely, they must undergo periodic maintenance and re-inspection.

During maintenance and re-inspection, attention is paid to mechanisms including the doors, the electrical installation and the brakes. Can trapped passengers be freed? Is there a risk of fire or entrapment? Maintenance and re-inspection help prevent people becoming trapped in lifts, malfunctions and accidents. They also help ensure a safe workplace for maintenance technicians.

Shared responsibility

Several parties are involved in ensuring that lifts operate safely, each with their own responsibilities:

  • Manufacturers placing a new lift on the market must ensure that it complies with the European product safety standards for lifts. When inspecting and installing the lift, the manufacturer must involve an EU conformity assessment body (EU-CAB). If the lift complies with the European standards, the manufacturer affixes a CE marking to the lift.
  • The owner must ensure that the lift installation is maintained and inspected every 18 months by a Dutch conformity assessment body (NL-CAB) as part of the periodic inspection.
  • An NL-CAB carries out the periodic re-inspection on behalf of the owner. It checks whether the lift complies with the manufacturing requirements, including whether the safety components function properly.
  • The Minister of Social Affairs and Employment designates the NL-CABs.
  • The scheme manager (SBCL – Lift Certification Management Foundation) lays down the criteria against which a lift is assessed during inspection.
  • The Dutch Accreditation Council assesses whether CABs comply with the European standards for inspection bodies.
  • The Netherlands Labour Authority monitors the system that safeguards the safety of lifts to ensure that it functions properly. For example, it checks whether NL-CABs carry out lift inspections independently and correctly and whether maintenance technicians can carry out their work safely. It also ensures that dangerous lifts are taken out of service and prevents lifts with incorrect CE markings from being marketed and installed. In exceptional cases, the Netherlands Labour Authority also handles exemption applications for new lifts.

Risks, approach and effect

For more information about the risks identified by the Netherlands Labour Authority, the approach it takes and the effect of it, see the page Lifts: risks, approach and effect.