Monday February 16, 2009
Time to overhaul lift inspection and maintenance
OUR Prime Minister was trapped in a lift for 30 minutes on Feb 12 while at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre to deliver a speech.
This is a daily occurrence for people living in high-rise buildings and yet very little is being done to improve their plight, which is getting to be intolerable.
The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) has raised this matter before, and in a recent survey on lifts and interviews with residents in several high-rise apartments and flats, found the overall situation to be appalling.
Of the 25 lifts inspected, seven were not in working order at the time of inspection. Many of the lifts were poorly illuminated and safety signs were missing.
In one 15-storey flat, having 180 housing units, only two lifts were provided. One of them had broken down the previous day and another one had not been operational for about six months.
On March 20, 2006, after a man lost his life in Penang due to a faulty lift door, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health published in the media that a special committee would be set up to look into various issues related to elevator safety.
DOSH has to be vigilant and be on the lookout for errant building managers and maintenance companies.
The interval between periodic inspections should be reduced from the present 15 months to 10 months.
DOSH should also check records of the complaints and frequency of breakdowns from the residents association.
If the records are found to be poor then the elevator maintenance company should carry out a major overhaul.
DOSH should consider using a remote lift monitoring system which can help keep tabs on the status of lifts and pinpoint problem areas from a centralised monitoring station. This is practised in many countries.
At the same time the residents should give their cooperation to bring down vandalism.
S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS,
President,
Consumers’ Association of Penang.
News Poll
- Man posted doctored photos of Nik Aziz
- Heartbreaking wait for mum
- Sodomy II: Karpal claims judge lied (Updated)
- The world just got bigger
- Opposition leaders decry court’s ruling
- Weather warning for Perak, Selangor and Sabah
- Thumbs-up for Najib
- 5-0 for BN’s Zambry
- Saiful files report over death threat
- WWF: Orang asli being used
- 60 lose RM25mil in gold investment scam
- Canberra to set new skills list
- Sodomy II: Karpal claims judge lied (Updated)
- Weather warning for Perak, Selangor and Sabah
- MAS offers CNY bargains
- Heavy vehicle ban during CNY rush
- ‘Flashing candy’ a health hazard: Health Ministry
- Saiful files report over death threat
- Fleet card cloning ring busted with arrest of trio
- WWF: Orang asli being used
RSS
