Choosing your home elevator - safety features you must have

To avoid accidents involving home elevators, it’s crucial to be aware of indispensable safety features available in residential elevators and to purchase equipment that has these vital advancements. Major manufacturers provide affordable home elevators with advanced safety features suitable for various indoor and outdoor transportation needs. These features include:

• Door Interlock System: Meant for the doors opening into the elevator shaft, these systems prevent the access door at each landing from being opened if the cab isn’t currently at that specific landing zone.

• Emergency Alarm: This is a button located inside the elevator that can be activated in case of emergency to alert anyone nearby that you’re in the elevator and require assistance.

• Power Backup Facility: These devices are located inside the machine room and provide an uninterruptible power supply that automatically activates during a power failure to lower the cab to the first available floor for a safe exit.

• Landline Telephone: Located in a control box inside the elevator, an active landline telephone ensures you can call for help.

• Cable Safety Devices: In the rare case that an elevator’s cables snap, these devices kick in to prevent the cab from plummeting to the bottom of the shaft.

• Battery-Operated (UPS) Emergency Lowering: During a power failure, a backup battery powers this device, which allows passengers to choose any floor going down and safely lowers them to this floor for a safe exit.

• Emergency Lighting: Designed to turn on in the event of a main power failure, emergency lighting systems illuminate the inside the cab, so you’re not stuck in total darkness while you wait for help to arrive.

• Motorized Braking: This safety feature places automatic braking systems near the top and the bottom of the elevator shaft, so if the cab moves too far either up or down, the motorized brake stops it.

• Lockable Control Panel: This safety feature prevents tampering with elevator controls.

• Elevator Door Interlocks: Unlike landing door interlock systems, elevator door interlocks prevent the elevator from operating unless the car gate is closed.

• Emergency Stop Switch: This is a button or switch located inside the cab that can stop an elevator in case of an emergency.

• Slack-Chain Brake System: This safety braking device is a fall arrest mechanism that stops and sustains the elevator, including the load it’s rated to carry, if either of the hoisting cables become slack or breaks to prevent the elevator from falling.

• Safety Sensors: There are two main types of safety sensors: door sensors that prevent elevator doors from closing if an object is detected and pit sensors that disable elevator operation if anything is detected in the pit.

Therefore, evaluate your proposals carefully as Elevators are one of the most sensitive equipment inside a house where you kids and grandparents are also using the same. Safety should be the prime concern while evaluating purchases. Below is a video of our DHM 400 Home lift model.