News

News and stories from the industry, and ourselves.

Rope rouging

Rope rouging is a serious problem that can significantly reduce the life of your ropes and cost you thousands.

Rope rouging occurs when rope strands and wires rub together under load. The abrasive action, known as fretting causes the wires to wear, and releases fine steel particles or dust, which then oxidise, taking on the red colour typically associated with rouging. Unlike rope corrosion, the ropes themselves do not necessarily undergo oxidation or rusting—it is only the emitted dust that turns red.

While rope corrosion is typically caused by external environmental factors, rouging is often the result of insufficient lubrication. Ropes are lubricated during the manufacturing process but require regular re-lubrication throughout their lifespan. Unfortunately, this is often omitted or overlooked in many lift maintenance regimes, resulting in many lifts suffering from premature rope wear. According to one rope manufacturer, dry ropes may have up to an 80% shorter service life compared to sufficiently lubricated ropes.

Once a rope shows signs of rouge, it is usually too late to save it, and the need for replacement becomes inevitable. And because ropes must be replaced as a set the cost can run into the tens of thousands.

So how can you be sure that your lift ropes are being sufficiently lubricated?

At Vertical Dynamics, we help ensure your lifts are maintained to the highest standards. From maintenance audits and compliance inspections to bespoke maintenance contracts for individual lifts or larger portfolios, our services provide the peace of mind you need for the lifts in your building.

If you have concerns about the lifts in your building or would like to discuss how we can help with the maintenance management of your lifts, feel free to contact us via Linked In or click on the enquiries link below.

Vertical Dynamics becomes Safecontractor Accredited

Vertical Dynamics is delighted to announce that it has been awarded Safecontractor accreditation

The accreditation scheme assures customers that a company meet all of the standards and regulations they require.

This involves ensuring that processes are in place to ensure health and safety is handled in the best way possible.

It offers peace of mind to clients and potential clients that we, as a company, take our health and safety obligations seriously.

Vertical Dynamics. Providing you with professional lift consultancy services, safely.

How often should maintenance be undertaken?

One of the most frequent questions we are asked at Vertical Dynamics is ‘how often should we have our lift maintained?’ This question is usually followed by ‘what type of maintenance would you recommend?’

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. According to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (HSW Act) 1974, employers are required to ensure the “provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.” Similarly, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998 legally obliges duty holders to keep lifts “maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, and in good repair.”

While PUWER does not dictate the exact number of maintenance visits needed, it does emphasize the importance of regular checks, especially for safety-related features.

We would always recommend a risk based approach to determining the frequency and intensity of maintenance for your lift.

Consider the following factors:

Age of the lift – Not always a given, but in most cases a new lift should be more reliable than an older model.
Intensity of use – A lift in a quiet residential building will inevitably experience less use, and subsequently less wear and tear than in a busy office building.
Operating environment – While not always the case, it is likely that a private residential building will experience a more sympathetic level of use than say, a shopping centre.
Variety of operations – If the lift is the only one in the building then it is likely to be used for multiple purposes, including passengers and goods.
Risk to health and safety from malfunction or failure – If your lift is a firefighters lift there is an even greater urgency to ensure that the lift remains operational and reliable.
Risk to building operations from malfunction or failure –The inconvenience of a malfunction is significantly greater if the lift is the sole one in a building, particularly in taller structures or where elderly or disabled individuals may be present.

Thinking about the above should help when determining whether you need 12, six or four visits per year or whether you need to invest in a fully comprehensive or basic level of cover.

Don’t forget also, the importance of regular Thorough Examinations under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER), even if your lift is within a private residential building. While LOLER itself excludes blocks of flats, it remains one of the only recognised methods of ensuring compliance with your obligations under Articles 3 and 4 of the HSW Act.

If you have any questions about your lift maintenance, why not contact one of our team and we will be happy to assist.

A survey can save you thousands.

Investing in a lift condition survey can help you with determining the best option for your aging lift.

According to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Guide M, the typical economical service life for a lift is between 15 and 20 years. It also suggests that approximately 50% of all installed lifts are over the age of 20. That means that over 50% of all in service lifts have exceeded their expected service life.

Many of these lifts continue to operate safely and efficiently, but inevitably, there are others that will be suffering from reliability issues. In a lot of cases the owners or duty holders are aware of the age but pressed for funds and not necessarily in a position to replace the lift. As a result, there is often a policy of piecemeal replacement, whereby lift parts are replaced only as they fail. This may seem like a sensible approach, but it can lead to large maintenance costs without tangible improvement in reliability or increase in longevity.

Commissioning a condition survey on your lift can help determine the best short, medium and long term solutions for maintaining and improving lift reliability and performance. At Vertical Dynamics, our surveys can help evaluate the extent of wear and tear, compliance with current legislation and standards, and the quality of maintenance. It can also provide cost effective options for short term solutions as well as longer term modernisation or replacement. Importantly, it can also help you avoid running up large bills on ‘sticking plaster’ repairs and replacements.

If you have an aging lift that is suffering from reliability problems or would like to discuss any of the issues discussed above with one of our lift consultants, please feel free to contact us via the link below.

The Case for Modernisation

There are a large number of lifts in service that have reached the end of their expected service life. But when the time comes for intervention, replacement is not the only option.

According to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) there are approximately six million lifts in operation throughout Europe. Of that six million, over 50% have reached an age, where they are now in need of some form of intervention.

The primary concern for any lift is safety, and while older lifts may not comply with modern health and safety standards, there is a common misconception that in order to ensure continued safe travel, older lifts require full replacement. This is simply not correct. With the right design, modernised lifts can meet all of the current requirements under both safety standards and legislation.

Modernising a lift involves the removal of worn, aged, obsolete and non compliant equipment and its replacement with new components of current design and specification. Generally, the majority of the replaced parts will never be seen by lift passengers. However, in most cases, every modernisation will include a redecoration of the car interior, along with replacement of the user controls. The result is a lift that to the average user, will look and perform like a new installation.

The benefits of modernisation are numerous. For clients on a smaller budget, it is possible to scale the level of works to suit the available resources. Works can also be phased, in order to split the cost across two financial periods. And the general specification of replacement parts can also be tailored to ensure that the funds are spent on the most important areas of the lift.

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important aspect of any building project, and lift modernisation can offer significant benefits in this area. With most modernisation projects focusing on the retention of major components such as the car sling, guide rails and counterweight, there is the potential for savings of up to 50% on the embodied carbon total for the lift project.

Other advantages can include lower levels of interruption and inconvenience to building users -especially important in operational buildings- and potential savings on programme and cost.

If you have an aging lift that is now in need of attention, why not give Vertical Dynamics a call and speak with our lift consultants to see if modernisation might be the right option for you.

The digital changeover is coming

Old copper landlines are beling replaced with new fire optic cables, and this may affect your lifts

BT Openreach has committed to replacing all copper telephone cables with new fire optic systems by 2025, and while this may be slightly delayed, the end result will be the same, and will impact many existing lift communication systems.

Most older emergency lift communication systems (known as auto diallers) will have been installed using existing copper cable telephone lines. Because fibre optic systems do not operate in the same way there is a real risk that many of these auto diallers will fail once the new systems are introduced. However, without checking, the first time this may be discovered is when a passenger tries to make a call in an emergency.

There are options available to protect your lifts against the potential consequences of this changeover Retrofit GSM units are becoming less expensive and can fit with most existing analogue auto dialler units. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems are also an alternative.

If you are concerned that your lifts may be affected, feel free to call us at Vertical Dynamics. Our experienced lift consultants can discuss the most appropriate solution for your lifts and help you plan for the digital changeover.