Lifts and escalators owners in Singapore are required by law to ensure safe and reliable operations of lifts and escalator under their care. These slides attempt to give a brief overview of the statutory requirements on lifts and escalators owners.

1. Lifts & Escalators
What Owners should know about the Law

2. Background
• Currently in Singapore, there are about
• 60,000 lifts (expected to double in 10 years time)
• 6,000 escalators
• Spate of lift/escalator incidents over last two years causing fatality
and injuries to users
• Building & Construction Authority (BCA) implemented new
requirements on maintenance and stepping up audits of lifts and
escalators island-wide

3. Lift breakdowns in public housing estates
Year No. of lift breakdowns per 1,000 lifts
2013 30
2014 30
2015 20
2016 20
Figures from Ministry of National Development

4. Recent lift incidents causing injuries
Date Location Description
9 Oct 15 Blk 322 Tah Ching Rd Woman lost her left arm clamped by lift door.
6 Mar 16 Blk 317 Ang Mo Kio St 31 Lift car shot up from 3rd to 20th floor before stopping in between
19th and 20th floor. A woman faced slight injury.
16 May 16 Blk 247 Pasir Ris St 21 Lift car stopped 25 cm above landing, a man on wheelchair
toppled, fell backwards as he was reversing to exit and died.
7 Jun 16 Blk 150 Petir Rd Lift shot up & down from ground to 13th floor erratically twice
throwing a woman to the car floor and injured her spine.
15 Nov 16 Blk 207 Boon Lay Place Lift car plunged from 3rd to ground floor before finally climbed to
2nd floor and opened. A woman suffered leg injury.
7 Jun 17 Blk 325A Sengkang East Way Plastic ceiling panel in lift car fell and injured a girl’s foot.
1 Jul 17 Blk 542 Jurong West Ave 1 Lift car plunged from 4th to ground floor injuring a woman’s leg.

5. Possible causes of lifts failures
• Components damage due to age, wear and tear or misuse or vandalised by users
(especially cargo lifts)
• Poor quality of components at manufacturing stage
• Poor quality of installation works
• Post-installation tests not thorough
• Restoration of components during corrective maintenance not according to
design specifications
• Preventive maintenance not thorough, 20-points checks not done
• No maintenance reports by lift technicians, hence likely no supervisory checks
• Lift owners not involved lift maintenance due to lack of technical knowledge and
rely entirely on lift contractors

6. Some faults found during Emaan’s lifts inspections
• Cables termination not properly done and inadequate physical protection
• EBOPS batteries ran out of service life or not maintained
• Counterweight and hoistway protective screens removed
• Poor housekeeping at lift pit, machine room and car top
• Lubricating oil for car guide rail spill or oil can ran empty
• Automatic Rescue Device not functioning
• Lift moved despite door “A” gap above allowable limits
• Damages and/or wear and tear of components

7. Escalator incidents
According to BCA –
• 63 escalator-related incidents in Nov & Dec 16
• 95% of these incidents due to ‘user behaviour’
• Carrying heavy or bulky objects such as luggage, prams
• Users fell due to ‘inattentiveness, intoxication, being unwell or from leaning against sides of
escalators’
• Only 3 incidents due to technical fault – handrail stopped while steps in motion
• 78% incidents involve older people above 60
According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA)
• 0.15 escalator incidents per one million riders at MRT stations in period Jan – May 16

8. Recent media-reported escalator incidents
Date Location Description
16 Nov 16 Bugis Junction Man injured toe after got caught at escalator.
15 Dec 16 Ang Mo Kio Hub Metal piece from escalator step pierced boy’s footwear.
2 Aug 17 Rivervale Mall Woman fell 10 steps and injured after escalator ‘suddenly stopped’.
11 Aug 17 White Sands Mall 4-year old girl got her right foot stuck in escalator.
7 Sep 17 The Centrepoint Woman managed to jump off seconds before steps buckled.

9. BCA’s action to enhance lifts/escalators reliability and safety
• Tighter outcome-based maintenance regime
• Stricter enforcement and audit checks
• More robust Permit-to-Operate System
• Display of PTO in lift/escalator
• Incident reporting

10. Regulatory controls for Lifts
The laws governing lifts in Singapore are stipulated under the following
legislations:
• Building Control Act and Building Control Regulations 2003
• For design and installation of lifts
• Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act; and Building
Maintenance and Strata Management (Lift, Escalator and Building
Maintenance) Regulations 2016
• For the operation and maintenance of lifts

11. Regulatory controls for Lifts
The legislations make references to the following industry standards:
• SS 550 - Code of practice on the installation, Operation and
Maintenance of Electric Passenger and Goods Lifts
• European standard EN 81-40 (for stairlifts) and EN 81-41 (for platform
lifts)
• American National Standard ASME 18.1 (special lifts intended for
mobility of impaired persons)

12. Regulatory requirements on Lift Owners
1. Monthly maintenance - Owners to engage a Lift Contractor
registered with BCA to maintain lifts monthly
2. Lift Contractor to maintain lifts according to 20 specific
maintenance outcomes*
3. Lift Owners to keep maintenance records for at least 5 years and
make available to BCA when required.
4. Annual examination, inspection and testing of lifts – must be
carried out by a registered Lift Contractor in the presence of an
independent Authorised Examiner (AE)

13. Regulatory requirements on Lift Owners
5. Permit-to-Operate – Upon annual examination, AE will issue a
certificate to certify lift is in good working condition. Lift Owner to
apply to BCA for a Permit to Operate (PTO) together with certificate.
PTO must be renewed annually. PTO to be displayed in lifts.
6. Incident Reporting – Both Lift Owner and Lift Contractor must
inform BCA when an incident involving death or injuries to
passengers, or malfunction of safety critical components occurs.

14. Regulatory controls for Escalators
The laws governing escalators in Singapore are stipulated under :
• Building Control Act
• For design and installation and monthly maintenance of escalators
Reference industry standard:
• SS CP 15 - Code of practice on the installation, operation and
maintenance of escalators and passenger conveyors

15. Regulatory requirements on Escalator Owners
1. Monthly maintenance - Owners to engage an Escalator Contractor
registered with BCA to maintain escalators monthly
2. Escalator Contractor to maintain escalators according to 10 specific
maintenance outcomes *
3. Escalator Owners to keep maintenance records for at least 5 years
and make available to BCA when required.
4. Annual examination, inspection and testing of lifts – must be
carried out by a registered Escalator Contractor in the presence of
an independent Authorised Examiner (AE)

16. Regulatory requirements on Escalator Owners
5. Permit-to-Operate – Upon annual examination, AE will issue a
certificate to certify escalator is in good working condition.
Escalator Owner to apply to BCA for a Permit to Operate (PTO)
together with certificate. PTO must be renewed annually. PTO to
be displayed at or near escalator.
6. Incident Reporting – Both Lift Owner and Lift Contractor must
inform BCA when an incident involving death or injuries to
passengers, or malfunction of safety critical components occurs.

17. * Maintenance Outcomes
20 specific maintenance outcomes for lifts and 10 specific
maintenance outcomes for escalators could be found here –
https://www.bca.gov.sg/newsroom/others/Release_LiftEscalator_Regul
ations_080716.pdf

18. Services Emaan Offers in Lifts and Escalators
• PE (Mechanical) services for certification of compliance for lifts and
escalators for application of building TOP or CSC
• Authorised Examiner services for annual examination, inspection and
testing of lifts and escalators conducted by registered contractors and
issuance of certificate of good working condition
• Specialist PE (Lifts and Escalators) services for performance audit and
conditional assessments of lifts and escalators

19. Contact us for any queries
Emaan Inspection Pte Ltd
8 Burn Road #04-08 Trivex
Singapore 369977
Tel: 6292 3549
email: info@emaan.com.sg
website: www.emaan.com.sg

20. We are ready to serve you
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