Mumbai: 8 months on, elevator policy awaits nod

Lift of a Malad school where a teacher lost her life on Sept 16

The state government is yet to finalise guidelines for lift safety even as the Industries, Energy and Labour Department submitted the draft eight months ago. In the past two months, two people have lost their lives in lift accidents. An official from the Chief Electrical Inspector's office said, "After the Law and Judiciary Department approves the draft, suggestions and objections will be invited."

We submitted a draft of the guidelines to the Law and Judiciary Department of the state government in March this year. We prepared the revised guidelines after studying the details of the elevator accidents that happened in the past few years," said the official from the Chief Electrical Inspector's office. When contacted, Law and Judiciary Department Principal Secretary Neeraj Dhote said, "I can't speak on the matter."

St Mary's English High School in Malad, where a teacher died in a lift mishap on September 16

"The Maharashtra Lifts, Escalators and Moving Walks Act was introduced in 2017. In the draft of the revised rules, we have included maintenance and safety of the elevator," said another official from the Chief Electrical Inspector's office. The official said as per the draft rules, elevators cannot be used for more than 20 years. The rule also sets time limits for each component of lifts. "The draft makes annual audits of all lifts, by an approved auditor, as well as maintenance mandatory," the official added.

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"In some accidents, we found that spare parts of different companies were used during repairs. This is because most lift manufacturing companies do not sell spare parts in the open market. So we are thinking of making it mandatory for all manufacturing firms to make the parts available in the open market," he added.

Recent lift deaths

>> October 2: Ratan Patil, a senior citizen from Borivli East, met with an accident when his head got stuck between the lift doors while his body remained inside. The lift moved up, dragging him down. He died while undertaking treatment on October 7.

>> September 16: Jenel Fernandes, a 26-year-old school teacher, died as the lift started moving before the door shut. Her bag got stuck near the door, bringing her down and smashing her head. Two maintenance staff were booked in the case.