1,600 lifts to be upgraded over the next 15 months

SINGAPORE — People’s Action Party (PAP) town councils have identified 1,600 lifts across 15 town councils that will be upgraded, over a period of 15 months.

The 15 town councils made a joint announcement about the plan on Monday (Jan 28), after the PAP Lift Task Force completed its review of lifts with contractors.

This will be the first step in a 10-year effort to upgrade over 17,000 lifts across the island, under the HDB’s Lift Enhancement Programme (LEP), which was announced in 2016.

The town councils that will have their lifts upgraded:

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  Ang Mo Kio

• Bishan-Toa Payoh

• Chua Chu Kang

• East Coast-Fengshan

• Holland-Bukit Panjang

• Jurong-Clementi

• Jalan Besar

• Marine Parade

• Marsiling-Yew Tee

• Nee Soon

• Pasir Ris-Punggol

• Sembawang

• Tampines

• Tanjong Pagar

• West Coast

WHAT THE UPGRADES WILL MEAN

The improvements will be in line with recommendations made by the Building Construction Authority, and applied to lifts that had been in operation for less than 18 years from the LEP’s start date.

The recommendations are:

• Installing an ascending car overspeed protection, which monitors the lift car’s speed, detects uncontrolled movement and slows down the lift car to a stop.

• Installing a tool to detect and stop the lift car from moving when the landing door is not locked, or if the lift car door is not closed.

• Installing an electrical safety device to detect the slackening of the governor rope, and which will initiate a stop of the lift car movement.

• Having a smooth vertical part extending downwards from the sill lift car entrance, to avoid the risk of people falling into the lift shaft if the lift landing doors are opened when the lift car is stopped above the levelling position.

• Installing light curtains as a door protective device.

• Installing an interlocking switch for every lift door panel that ensures that where the lift door panel is open, the lift will stop moving immediately and remain in position.

• Making it possible for lift passengers to have direct communication with personnel who can activate an emergency response.

• Installing a battery-operated device which will bring the lift to the nearest landing and open both the lift landing and car doors in the event of power failure.

THE BACKGROUND

In September 2016, the Government announced it would set aside S$450 million to subsidise lift upgrading for town councils under the LEP, following a spate of lift accidents.

In one case, an elderly man in a motorised wheelchair died from a fall in May 2016, when a lift stopped above ground level, causing his wheelchair to topple.

In another, an elderly woman’s hand was severed by lift doors in Tah Ching Road.