1. Introduction
2. Key Model Framework
2.1
O&M Input on Design for New Building
2.2
Asset Information (Documentation)
2.3
Operation Procedures
2.4
Emergency Preparedness
2.5
Preventive Maintenance Procedures / Standards
2.6
Corrective Maintenance
2.7
Maintenance Record Management
2.8
Spare Parts Management
2.9
Addition, Alteration and Replacement (Planning and Implementation)
2.10
Incident Management
2.11
Environmental and Safety Management
2.12
Application of Technologies
2.13
Stakeholder Management
2.14
Information Management
2.15
Structure and Qualification of O&M Team
3. Innovative & Technology Initiatives
4. Industry Standards and Requirements
Key Model Framework
2.1 O&M Input on Design for New Building
Design for Maintainability emphasises the importance of timely integration of design and construction knowledge with O&M experiences into the project design in order to optimise building life.
Maintainability should be considered, and incorporated into the building system design, ensuring the ease, accuracy, safety, and economy of maintenance tasks within that system. Maintainability refers to the effectiveness and efficiency of maintenance activities. New working practices encouraged, such as Building Information Modelling for Asset Management (BIM-AM), require the involvement of asset owners and FMs to understand the information they require on handover. FMs should be involved during design stage and ensure the information handed over by the contractor fits their specific needs.
2.1.1 General Practice
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Regular Design Coordination Meetings
For new building projects involving different design ideas on lifts and escalators, it is always necessary to solicit input from the lift and escalator O&M team. The O&M team can provide ideas and spatial requirements on not only daily operational issues, but also periodic maintenance, access, repair and upgrading considerations. Different lift design ideas can be considered from traditional, machine-room-less, regenerative, hydraulic and other properties. The O&M team can state their technical requirements for optimisation purposes in terms of reducing maintenance cost and getting the best access for repair. Therefore, for any new building projects, regular design coordination meetings between the design team and the O&M team to share views on maintenance is absolutely necessary.
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Tender Documents
Further to the design of the lift and escalator system with reference to O&M issues, tender documents containing O&M matters should be forwarded to the O&M team for comments. Cost and quality of maintenance of lifts and escalators after contract completion are critical issues of concern for awarding the tender as these have important resource implications for the subsequent follow up works to be carried out on the part of the O&M team.
2.1.2 Good Practice
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O&M Team to Provide Maintenance Requirements
The O&M team should provide lift and escalator maintenance requirements to design team. This will enable the design team to cover all necessary lift and escalator maintenance requirements in the tender document and the future maintenance contracts.
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O&M Team to Attend Coordination Meetings
The O&M team should attend coordination meetings following the commencement of lift and escalator construction works. This will enable the O&M team to provide comments on all O&M provisions.
2.1.3 Best Practice
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Design to Take into Consideration of Life Cycle Requirement and Redundancies
The design team shall consider the following factors in the aspects of the life cycle of the asset from commissioning, O&M, refurbishment to decommissioning or total replacement:
(a)
Factors on facilities redundancies, changeovers or bypass to maximise system resilience at contingency and minimise impact to users during maintenance activities;
(b)
Factors on design guidelines for accessibility and maintainability aspects with regular review and update;
(c)
Factors on Guidance Notes on Construction Design and Management (CDM) guidance to improve health and safety aspects on building construction and maintenance.
2.2 Asset Information (Documentation)
Asset Information should be compiled, covering all major items of Lift & Escalator Installations in a format that is useful to the FM and Maintenance Service Provider. The information should be placed in readily accessible locations, and updated regularly with:
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Any repairs, upgrades, refurbishments, maintenance or decommissioning work.
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Updates to assessment information (relating to performance or risk).
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Changes in the wider environment (including regulations, responsibilities or ownership).
2.2.1 General Practice
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Proper Documentation as per Statutory Requirements
The Responsible Person for a lift or an escalator shall be responsible for, and maintain all documentation including, but not limited to, the following:
(a)
Use Permit – display at all times in a conspicuous position inside the lift car. For escalators, the valid use permit should be displayed in a conspicuous position adjacent to the landing, or if there is more than one landing, the main landing of the escalator.
(b)
As-built drawings – record in the general building plans as approved by the Buildings Department.
(c)
Maintenance record – maintain the log-book as specified in the regulations for at least the past 3 years.
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Planning / Schedule of Examination and Testing
The Responsible Person for a lift or an escalator shall engage a Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor to carry out periodic maintenance including lubrication, cleaning, check, adjustment and repair of components due to wear and tear for the lift or escalator at intervals not exceeding 1 month, arrange for a Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer to carry out periodic examination of the lift at intervals not exceeding 12 months or escalator at intervals not exceeding 6 months respectively and arrange a Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer to carry out periodic examination of the lift or escalator with load at intervals not exceeding 5 years, so as to ensure that the lift or escalator and all its associated equipment or machinery are kept in a proper state of repair and in safe working order.
The schedule should be well-planned in advance, to avoid unnecessary disruptions to the use of the lifts or escalator, and to avoid causing contraventions to Cap. 618.
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Handover Report
Regarding the issue of changing Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor, the Responsible Person shall allow sufficient time in advance with the existing and incoming Registered Lift or Escalator Contractors to carry out joint inspection before handover date.
Any defects / outstanding work items shall be demarcated by using “Lift and Escalator Unsatisfactory/Uncompleted Maintenance Works and Common Anomalies Report”. By regulations, this first report shall be submitted to the Responsible Person and EMSD before the date of maintenance works handover.
After defects are rectified, the second report shall also be submitted.
2.2.2 Good Practice
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Possession of O&M Documents
Lift or escalator information refers to the layout plan, as-built drawings, typical approval certificates for safety components, O&M manuals, and periodic examination certificates. These documents provide the basic specification of lift and escalator system. The Responsible Person is recommended to keep a set of the equipment information in the Building Management Office.
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Maintenance History
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor and the Responsible Person are recommended to keep a record of maintenance history of the lift or escalator, including but not limited to, the following:
(a)
Routine maintenance – details of maintenance scopes and regular activities covered under such maintenance.
(b)
Special activities – activities other than the routine maintenance such as periodic examination, special maintenance check, site/safety audit and third-party audit.
(c)
Responsible Person’s activities – activities related to the lift and escalator, such as repairing lighting and ventilation system in machine room, repairing works for spalling in lift shaft, cleaning in lift pit, obstruction guards near escalator vicinity etc.
(d)
Call-back analysis – report of data collected from all the service calls.
(e)
Corrective maintenance – details of replaced components covered under such maintenance.
(f)
Modernisation – details of systems which have been modernised.
2.2.3 Best Practice
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Possession of All Design Documentation
All design documentation (e.g. design criteria, design calculations, design drawings, etc.) and asset information (e.g. make, model, year of installation), testing and commissioning report, operation and maintenance manuals, examination reports and certificates, spare part lists, tools lists, etc., provides a full picture of the lift or escalator. The Responsible Person is expected to maintain a comprehensive record of all design documentation for future review.
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Statistics of Same Type
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is recommended to develop a database of the same type/model of lifts or escalator installed in Hong Kong. The relevant data and information should be made available to the Responsible Person and EMSD for record and information. This database should record information, including but not limited to, the following:
(a)
Manufacturer
(b)
Model number
(c)
Year of manufacture
(d)
Control system model
(e)
Rated load / Step width
(f)
Rated speed
(g)
Travelling distance / Rise
(h)
Location
(i)
Country of origin
(j)
Quantity of same model installed
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Life Information History
The Responsible Person is recommended to keep a written or electronic record of the Life Information History of lift or escalator to show the installation and replacement records of the main components and safety devices. Such record should include, but not be limited to, the following:
(a)
Manufacturer
(b)
Model number
(c)
Model approval record
(d)
Year of manufacture
(e)
Year of installation / replacement
(f)
Components that was previous used
(g)
Country of origin
2.3 Operation Procedures
Operational efficiency refers to the lifecycle, cost-effective mix of preventive, predictive, and reliability-centred maintenance technologies, coupled with equipment calibration, tracking, and computerised maintenance management capabilities all targeting reliability, safety, occupant comfort, and system efficiency.
2.3.1 General Practice
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Basic Operation Procedures
The Responsible Person shall understand and execute the responsibilities of the responsible persons for lifts or escalators as defined under the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (Cap. 618), the Lifts and Escalators (General) Regulation, and other matters relating to lift or escalator maintenance works. The aim is to ensure the lift, escalator and all its associated equipment are kept in a proper state of repair and in safe working order. The Responsible Person shall engage a Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor to carry out the lift or escalator works, including installation work, major alteration and demolition work, and routine maintenance and periodic examinations.
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Safety and Operation Induction Training
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall conduct the safety induction training through Safety Supervisors based on the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59) and the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (Cap. 618) for the O&M team’s engineers and technicians.
In addition, the frontline staff employed by the Responsible Person shall be aware of and familiarised with the operation manual as well as the Code of Practice for Lift Works and Escalator Works (the Works Code), which sets out the minimum industry standard in satisfying the requirements under Cap. 618.
2.3.2 Good Practice
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Daily Operation Procedures
The daily operation procedures are recommended to be prepared and reviewed by Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor or Building Management Office. The O&M team is expected to execute the daily operation procedures including, but not limited to, the following:
(a)
Inspection before resuming the Lifts/Escalators
(b)
Procedure for shutting down the Lifts/Escalators
(c)
Inspection and procedures for the non-operating Lifts/Escalators
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Lift or Escalator Shut Down during Low Demand
When the traffic demand on the vertical transportation system is low or subject to building operation requirements, such as non-office hours of a commercial building or closing time of a shopping mall, it is recommended that the lifts or escalators can be shut down during low traffic demand (except the fireman lifts and barrier free accessible lifts). It is very common that the lifts or escalators in each lift or escalator bank can be shut down in turn.
2.3.3 Best Practice
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Immediate Lift Car Assignment
Whenever there is a lift bank, it is best to equip with the group control system for immediate lift car assignment. When the call button is registered, the assigned lift car within the group will be identified with a pre-arrival flashing hall lantern and a chime, so that the involved passenger will be waiting near the corresponding landing door when the lift arrives and the related psychological waiting time will be reduced.
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Continuous Traffic Monitoring
The continuous traffic monitoring system is a real-time data analyser, which generates real-time information for the lift’s self-learning programme that serves to improve the traffic efficiency of the lifts.
The analyser system uses video or load sensors analytics for people counting, and an object detector for area occupation checking. The system provides fast calculation and offers intelligent automatic bypass functions of lift travel. Video or load sensor analytics can be particularly useful for people counting and dispatching an appropriate number of lifts to required floors. For example, several lifts will be dispatched to a particular floor where crowds of people gathered in the lift lobby or in the lift car are detected after a banquet function.
For assigning the most efficient lift to transport people, the Destination Control System is an intelligent system using advanced traffic algorithms.
In addition, the system will record the traffic data history continuously for further analysis. This is an advanced real-time control system for specific lift traffic improvement.
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Temporary Zoning during Peak Hours
In office buildings, it is common to have heavy upward traffic congestion from the main floor lobby in the morning or after lunch hours. The temporary zoning mode can be applied to divide the lifts to service high and low zones instead of all floors during the peak periods. It is recommended that professional studies and surveys are undertaken to arrive at an optimal solution for the demarcation of high/low zones.
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Idling Mode
In low lift traffic situations, idling mode is recommended. In idling mode, the control system will command one lift to be non-operational in the group control command until a specified level of traffic demand is reached. This practice saves energy and offers a new control strategy.
Under “Idling Mode”, a lift shall:
(i)
not respond to passenger calls
(ii)
reduce the car interior lighting to 50% or less of the total lighting power consumption automatically after idling for 10 minutes
(iii)
turn off the ventilation automatically after idling for 2 minutes
(iv)
turn off the air-conditioning automatically after idling for 10 minutes.
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Service on Demand Operation
(i)
Under “Standby Mode”, an escalator shall operate in a ‘crawling’ speed or stop until a user is passing by the escalator.
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Remote Operation Monitoring System
A remote operation monitoring system is an internet data control system for new lifts and escalators that has been designed for networking. It can provide other functions for remote monitoring and transmits lift or escalator data to a 24-hour service centre.
If any operational faults occur, the 24-hour remote centre will be alerted and appropriate actions will be triggered.
2.4 Emergency Preparedness
Building Emergency Preparedness is an effort to connect the emergency planning and response with the building users. The goal is to train personnel in basic emergency response actions, who know the building and occupants and can act as a resource and liaison to the stakeholders and building users.
An emergency action plan should identify all the potential hazards associated with the Lift and Escalator Installations, with a personnel responsibility matrix for allocating appropriate resources. The written plan should become an action document, updated according to an appropriate timeframe to ensure accurate information, such as updated contact information is provided.
2.4.1 General Practice
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Emergency Devices
If failure occurs in any emergency device of the lift (i.e. alarm, intercom system, emergency lighting, ventilation fan of the lift car), the Registered Lift Contractor shall be notified within 4 hours. If the device cannot be reinstated within 24 hours, EMSD shall be notified via a specified form.
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Emergency Contact List
The emergency contact list shall be displayed in a conspicuous place with the lift car or vicinity of escalator in case of any emergency situation, and may include:
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Power company for electrical failure
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Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor’s 24-hours service centre
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EMSD’s emergency contact
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Emergency Handling
For all emergency situations including failure and trapped passengers, the Registered Lift Contractor shall arrive at the venue of incident within 1 hour (or within 30 minutes if trapped passenger is reported) upon being notified. The Registered Lift Contractor shall reset the system and rescue the trapped passenger.
For any serious incident including the death or injury of a person, the Responsible Person shall immediately notify the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor to respond and report the incident to EMSD.
2.4.2 Good Practice
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Emergency Procedures and Risk Assessment
An emergency procedure identifies the responsibilities, actions and resources necessary to deal with an emergency. The procedure should require a consultation period with those who could be involved or affected by the emergency, and contain a program set out for testing, training and periodic review.
Before preparing a procedure, it is necessary to carry out a risk assessment, which should cover all scenarios of possible failures. The risk assessment should estimate the likelihood of an emergency event occurring, and how serious or damaging the consequences would be. The risk assessment should be carried out by appropriate safety professionals.
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Regular Training on Emergency Procedures to Frontline Staff
The frontline staff employed by the Responsible Person are expected to be conversant and they should receive regular training on emergency procedures. It is recommended that such a training should be conducted by Safety Supervisors every 3 months.
2.4.3 Best Practice
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Regular Review and Drills
When an emergency procedure and a risk assessment are in place, regular review and drills are recommended. A Registered Safety Officer (RSO) should regularly review the documents and conduct drills every 12 months.
Frontline staff are trained by the RSO on the emergency operations plan, rescue and procedure. Fire, incident and disaster drills shall be conducted yearly to ensure the fire alarm system is operational and evaluate staff response, knowledge and competence upon alarm activation.
2.5 Preventive Maintenance Procedures / Standards
The goal of Preventive Maintenance is to prevent equipment failure caused by fatigue, neglect, or normal wear, through replacing worn components before actual failure. Planned Maintenance and Condition Based Maintenance activities include partial or complete overhauls at specified periods, and include oil changes, lubrication, minor adjustments, and so on. Typical procedures recommend that personnel record equipment deterioration upon any inspection to facilitate the replace or repair worn parts before any system failure.
The Preventive Maintenance Program must include the methodology and record for all actions that are necessary to maintain the optimal functioning of the Lift & Escalator Installations. The required maintenance procedures will be unique to each property and the systems within these facilities.
2.5.1 General Practice
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Statutory Requirements
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall provide the monthly comprehensive maintenance services (including lubrication, inspection, cleaning, and adjusting of all items as necessary; repair, overhaul, replacement of defective parts; removal of protective guarding; and checking of all associated lift and escalator equipment). The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall also maintain an efficient and prompt response to breakdowns, emergency call-outs or complaints to do with installation/equipment failure and/or unsatisfactory services. Periodic maintenance of lifts or escalators including lubrication, inspection, cleaning and adjustment shall be conducted at intervals not exceeding 1 month.
Periodic examination of lifts shall include:
(a)
Thorough examination without any load in the lift car, at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
(b)
Thorough examination with full rated load in the lift car, at intervals not exceeding 5 years.
Periodic examination of escalators shall include:
(a)
Thorough examination without any load, at intervals not exceeding 6 months.
(b)
Thorough examination of the brake by load test or torque test, at intervals not exceeding 5 years.
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Induction Training for O&M Team
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall arrange induction training for its maintenance team on issues of safety, statutory requirements, repair techniques, performance targets, and work manner.
The goals of induction training are to build up a positive safety-conscious culture, learn new lift technology in design and O&M, increase knowledge of the company’s safety systems and procedures, and understand the project specific requirements/information.
2.5.2 Good Practice
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More Frequent Maintenance for Lift or Escalator and Maintaining Other Building Works and Building Services Installations
More frequent maintenance such as weekly or bi-weekly maintenance of lifts or escalators is considered as good practice as it exceeds the statutory requirements.
In addition to the maintenance of the lift or escalator equipment, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall also report to the Responsible Person any defects of building work and building services installations. The building work includes the building fabric, cladding, concrete spalling, safety notices and signs, floor intersection guards and safeguards, building obstacles, etc. The building services installations include lighting, power socket, ventilation fan, air-conditioner in machine rooms, etc. This will provide an opportunity to maintain the lift well and lift or escalator system when no other maintenance contractors can enter the lift well or around escalator vicinity.
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Handover Dispute
During the course of the change in Registered Lift or Escalator Contractors, there could be potential to be concerns and disputes between the current and incoming contractors. To resolve this, the Responsible Person may commission a third-party independent lift or escalator audit to produce an audit examination report that serves to address the issues under dispute and to settle responsibilities of both contractors. The third-party independent lift or escalator audit shall be carried out by an independent Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer.or escalator audit shall be carried out by an independent Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer.
2.5.3 Best Practice
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Predictive Maintenance by Technical Approach
It is recommended that the Responsible Person employ high-quality and experienced lift professionals who would be put in charge of examining operation data, breakdown data, fault history and equipment condition, etc., as well as evaluating the predictive maintenance programme.
The evaluation will include:
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Early replacement of parts before fault occurs
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Regular intervals of independent audits
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Advice on spare part availability
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Advice on replacement, modernisation or major alteration
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Comment on maintenance quality
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Self-Diagnostic Program
If the lift is designed to be equipped with a self-diagnostic program, the self-diagnostic program should be set to run once a week at selected hours or as specified by the Responsible Person. During the running of program, lifts will travel inside the lift well continuously and data will be generated for further analysis to ensure the safe working condition of the lifts. It is recommended that the contractor use this data to prepare a detailed report on regular basis.
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Third Party Independent Lift or Escalator Audit
It is advisable to employ a third-party professional to conduct an independent lift or escalator audit on all lifts or escalators at least once a year. After the inspection, the third party shall provide an audit report that includes, but is not limited to, the following information:
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Log book analysis
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Findings with photo records
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Visual check on all major equipment
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Functionally test for all safety components
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Short term and long term recommendations
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Lift or escalator replacement / modernisation recommendations
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Maintenance review
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Breakdown trend analysis
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Independent Periodic Examination of Lifts or Escalators
Under the current system of lift or escalator inspection, a Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer who is an employee a particular Registered Lift/ Escalator Contractor, is charged with the job duties and responsibilities of inspecting and signing off on the lifts or escalators of his employing company.
The Responsible Person is encouraged to promote professional, independent and quality works. In order to enhance the transparency and independence of the inspection works, employment of an independent Registered Engineer to carry out periodic examinations is considered appropriate.
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Application of QR Code by Mobile Phone
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contactor’s maintenance team is recommended to access lift or escalator information using mobile phone applications with QR code scanning and access passwords. The information should be specific to each lift or escalator, and may include design documentation, asset information, history of spare parts, and available stock of the parts.
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Remote Monitoring System on Faults
A lift remote operation monitoring system is an internet data control system for new lifts that has been designed for networking lifts. It shall provide other functions for remote monitoring, faults received, and data transmission to a 24-hour service centre.
A sophisticated self-checking programme can function on the basis of big data in maintenance statistics comparing the operation status of critical components. If a component is reaching the end of its service life cycle, the programme will prompt for early parts replacement. This is an advanced technology for predictive maintenance.
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Lift or escalator Replacement Plan
As some lifts or escalators operate for over 20 years, equipment breakdown becomes more frequent, and spare parts are likely to be unavailable or obsolete. The Responsible Person is recommended to consider full replacement or major modernisation of these lifts. A Lift or an Escalator Replacement Plan should be in place for implementation procedures.
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Safety Devices Replacement Plan
Safety devices in lifts or escalators are considered as the most critical components. It is recommended that replacement of safety devices should be based on their condition, and as according to EMSD’s circular letters or guidelines. A Safety Devices Replacement Plan should be in place following evaluation by the registered lift or escalator contractors or professionals.
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Timely Reporting of Maintenance Status via Mobile Application
It is recommended that a mobile application is used to provide instant notification to the selected Responsible Person group for any fault log, contractor arrival time, resuming time, etc. This will enhance the management of lift or escalator service in a high technical manner
2.6 Corrective Maintenance
The goal of every maintenance team is to be fast and effective, especially when it comes to unexpected breakdowns of critical plant and equipment, aiming to achieve:
i)
Reduced duration of both planned and unplanned downtimes;
ii)
Reduced cost of running a reactive maintenance strategy;
iii)
Reduced overall cost of maintenance operations.
2.6.1 General Practice
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Induction Training for O&M Team
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall provide its maintenance team with induction training covering issues of safety, statutory requirements, repair techniques, performance targets and work manner.
The goals of induction training are to promote a positive safetyconsciousness culture, new lift technology in design and O&M, knowledge of the company and its procedures, and understanding of project specific requirements/information.
Specific training shall be tailored for particular buildings that have repeated faults in order to learn and adopt the right approach for troubleshooting and repair, and hence reduce the chance of having the same fault happen again.
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Reporting of Not Completing the Rectification Works within a Specific Period of Time
Development and use of a reporting system shall ensure technical transparency of repair situations, should the repair work duration extend to more than 8 hours. The report shall include causes of breakdown and the reasons for delay in service resumption; for example, spare part availability, diagnostics, labour, etc. The report shall be sent to the Responsible Person.
2.6.2 Good Practice
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Monthly Fault Call and Emergency Repair Report for Performance Evaluation
Every month, a report should be prepared from a database, which is set up for recording the history of all fault logs. The report should cover all kinds of faults due to mechanical, electrical and electronic failures, and vandalism, and include data pertaining to timing of fault reported, fault call made, repair team arrival, downtime, resumption of services, etc. For mechanical, electrical and electronic failures, detailed descriptions of causes, findings and repair methods shall be provided. This fault report should be detailed enough for analysis to prevent “repeated faults”, and trend analysis of breakdown.
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Proper Documentation of Corrective Maintenance Record
For every fault, the cause should be identified and analysed. Detailed information of the Corrective Maintenance record should include the following items:
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Time of fault reported
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Time of fault call to contractor
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Time of contractor arrival
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Time of resuming service
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Breakdown period
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Cause of fault, described in enough detail for analysis
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Repair items
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Spare parts used
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Lift machine room defects
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Building work defects
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Lift pit defects, etc.
2.6.3 Best Practice
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Timely Reporting of Fault Calls Maintenance Status via Mobile Application
It is recommended that a mobile application is used to provide instant notification to the selected Responsible Person group for any fault reported, contractor arrival time, service resumption, etc. This will enhance the management of lift service in a high technical manner.
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Sufficient Critical On-site Spare Parts
In certain high-demand buildings and estates with a considerable number of similar buildings, it is necessary for the Owner to require the contractor to maintain sufficient stock of frequently used components, materials, and spare parts, on-site for immediate replacement in repair work. The actual on-site spare part inventory list should be monitored with crossreferencing to fault reports and spare parts used.
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Trouble-shooting Guide
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should be requested to establish a set of troubleshooting guidelines. The goals of the guidelines are to provide fast guidance, clear advice and instructions to the maintenance team in order to identify the fault components or programmes. Use of a flowchart to illustrate the troubleshooting procedures is highly recommended.
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Online Step-by-Step Maintenance Instruction Guide
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should establish an online maintenance troubleshooting software or maintenance guide to assist the maintenance team in the diagnosis process. Such software shall provide a series of troubleshooting questions for several common types of breakdowns and step-by-step repair/replacement instructions to solve the problem. The software shall be supported by technical experts.
2.7 Maintenance Record Management
Good management of maintenance records is essential for ensuring that a piece of equipment is performing in line with the manufacturer’s warranty, and can help to determine its preventive maintenance schedule. It also assists service technicians in diagnosing repeat problems with a plant or equipment. Clear records can also provide assistance in legal proceedings, if ever necessary.
2.7.1 General Practice
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Proper Documentation of Preventive Maintenance Plan and Record at least 3 years
According to the Lifts and Escalators (General) Regulation (Cap. 618A) Part 2 Division 1 Section 2, the Responsible Person for a lift or escalator shall keep the record of the log-book for at least 3 years. The log-book shall be in the specified form (LE50L for lift and LE50 for escalator), and contain specified information and particulars such as description of the installation and installation contractors, specifications of lift or escalator, maintenance contractor and maintenance duration for lifts or escalators, details of lift or escalator work, maintenance schedule, etc. Such a record shall be provided for an enforcement officer’s inspection within 3 days of the date of receipt of the request.
2.7.2 Good Practice
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Computerised Maintenance Management Information System
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should be requested to establish a Computerised Maintenance Management Information System in order to input, analyse and review the database of the Maintenance Records, Fault History and Preventive Maintenance Plan. The maintenance management information system shall collect data from multiple online systems, analyse the information, and report data to aid in management decision making. By using such system, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall improve the decision-making process by using up-to-date and accurate data. Moreover, it can maximise efficiency with an overview of the operation, performance feedback, and comparison of results to planned performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses.
2.7.3 Best Practice
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Regular Review on Maintenance Records and Fault History
The Responsible Persons, senior management of the building management office, and maintenance contractor, are recommended to review maintenance records and fault history periodically, for example, quarterly. The maintenance records and fault history should reflect the equipment condition, maintenance quality and passenger behaviour. Based on these items of information, the maintenance strategy and management arrangement, such as maintenance schedule, duration of each maintenance and maintenance items, should be reviewed to improve the lift or escalator performance and troubleshooting time.
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Digitise the Log-book
It is recommended that information and particulars of log-books should be recorded in an electronic format. To access the lift works record, authorised personnel of the building management and the registered contractor can scan a QR code at the venue or through an encrypted channel with authorisation. The electronic log-book should be conveniently uploaded to the cloud storage platform, and available for download to a computer, tablet, smartphone, or any other kind of reading device, instantaneously.
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Big Data Analysis
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is recommended to make use of the latest technology of “Big Data Analytics” to analyse maintenance records. This advanced technology software should be developed by the lift or escalator manufacturers or software companies. The maintenance data of lifts or escalator and critical components should be recorded and transferred to the system for further analysis and comparison against benchmarks. The data from the same model or series of lift or escalator will be gathered, compared and listed systematically for maintenance planning and management. Big maintenance data analysis could provide useful statistics results, such as the total number of operating equipment, average number of equipment breakdowns per month, accumulated number of equipment breakdowns in current month, most frequent fault log records, etc.
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Use Of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to provide decision-making tools and predictive reminders for Lift & Escalator Installations. A self-learning algorithm of AI uses the big data analysis results to predict future patterns and generate reminders for maintenance activities.
The following areas can take advantage of AI for maintenance data analysis of the following:
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Life span of particular lifts or critical components
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Condition of particular lifts or critical components
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Prediction of spare parts requirement
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On-time spare parts procurement and delivery arrangement
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Streamline maintenance schedule and maintenance items of each visit
2.8 Spare Parts Management
Spare parts management refers to a systematic and structured way to store and extract spare parts efficiently for any maintenance activity. A good system should minimise downtime during service disruption and simplify equipment maintenance.
2.8.1 General Practice
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Maintain Sufficient Spare Parts at Warehouse
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall maintain sufficient spare parts at the warehouse for the replacement of defective components. The warehouse(s) shall have adequate space to store the spare parts and necessary tools for emergency repair works. The stock size of the spare parts shall be proportional to the number and model of equipment undergoing maintenance works.
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Provide Local Warehouse Location and Information
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall provide the local warehouse locations and information. The Responsible Person shall visit the warehouse to confirm sufficient spare parts, and request information about methods of purchasing spare parts, time required for delivery, etc. With such a visit, stock-taking, the quantity, delivery and availability of spare parts can be ensured.
2.8.2 Good Practice
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Maintain Sufficient Spare Parts
A common reason for extended equipment downtime is that the spare parts cannot be delivered to the site on time. In order to minimise the delivery time of spare parts from warehouse to the site, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is recommended to maintain sufficient stock of general spare parts, especially for long lead items, on site, for maintenance and emergency use. In addition, the Responsible Person is required to provide adequate storage area for keeping sufficient spare parts on-site.
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Provide an On-Site Spare Parts List
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is recommended to establish an on-site spare parts list in accordance with the breakdown record and analysis. Based on breakdown frequency and impact level to users, the demand for spare parts can be classified into different priority rankings. The on-site spare parts list should include spare parts with the highest demand ranking. The on-site spare parts list should be reviewed periodically by the Responsible Person and Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor according to the up-to-date breakdown analysis.
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Provide Supplier List Of The Spare Parts
A supplier list of spare parts should be established by the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor in order to secure its supply chain of spare parts. If the original supplier cannot provide the required lift or escalator spare parts, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should identify alternative suppliers in the market. The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should keep a good communication channel with the suppliers on the supplier list. The content of the supplier list should include, but not be limited to, the following:
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Name of supplier
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Address of supplier
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Contact number of supplier
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Catalogue/type of supplier
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Production capacity
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Supplier’s ranking
2.8.3 Best Practice
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Derive the Type and Quantity of On-site Spare Parts Required from Fault History, Maintenance Record, Equipment Age and Criticality, etc.
The requirement of spare parts can be identified by not only general design factors, such as equipment age and criticality, but also individual condition factors, i.e. fault history and maintenance record. While the lift or escalator components are deteriorating to their end of service life cycle and increasing faults occurring, sufficient spare parts should be stored on-site for scheduled replacement or emergency use. Hence, type and quantity of on-site spare parts should be derived based on the general design factors and further finetuned according to the individual condition factors.
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Identify Obsolescent Equipment
There are several reasons for original suppliers to stop producing specific spare parts, such as eliminating harmful raw materials in production process and changing to new components from supplier’s new product lines. In the lift and escalator industry, the manufacturing cycle of particular models and parts is around 25-30 years. Hence, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should make all efforts to identify any obsolescent equipment. When the equipment production is stopped and no alternative is provided in the market, the spare part can be identified as obsolescent equipment.
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Predict Spare Parts Requirement Using AI For Advance And On-Time Spare Parts Procurement
Rather than using the traditional method of maintaining sufficient spare parts in the on-site storage, it is recommended to predict the spare parts requirements using AI technology. One of the AI applications in lift and escalator industry is using big data analytics software to predict the service life cycle of particular parts. With the real-time condition of parts and prediction of the service lifecycle, the spare parts requirement and on-time spare parts procurement can be achieved smartly and accurately by AI.
2.9 Addition, Alteration and Replacement (Planning and Implementation)
This includes the analysis, procurement, and management on additions, alterations as well as disposal and replacement of lift & escalator Installations to meet the organisational long-term objectives.
2.9.1 General Practice
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Replacement as Corrective Maintenance
Under the corrective maintenance philosophy, the Responsible Person makes decisions to adopt additions, alterations and replacement and hence takes the most proactive approach to enhance lift safety and management. The alterations and additions (A&A) involve addition, change and replacement of various lift or escalator equipment components. These A&A works shall be carried out by Registered Lift or Escalator Contractors.
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Alterations and Additions as per User Requirements
The A&A works shall be considered in accordance with the user’s requirements on lift cars, lift shaft equipment, machinery space of escalator and equipment in the lift machine room. Major A&A works shall involve automatic devices, auxiliary rope-fastening devices, car-levelling devices, lift top operation device, lift-way or lift car door contacts, lift-way or lift car door interlocking devices, lift roller guide shoes, rope equalisers for lift, lift travel distance, speed, safety components, lift access switches, lift ropes, guide rails inside lift-way, controls, driving machine, braking system , non-reversal device of escalator, overspeed protection device of escalator, safety equipment of escalator, etc.
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Computerised Testing and Commissioning Certificate and Record Of Tests
The Responsible Person shall be required to employ the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor to carry out all major alteration works, and arrange examination of the lift or escalator by Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer before the resumption of the normal operation of the lift or escalator. After the major alteration works, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall submit the testing and commissioning certificate and record of tests by uploading the information to EMSD’s e-platform in order to obtain the required certificates.
2.9.2 Good Practice
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Modernisation Planning
As recommended by EMSD, to enhance lift or escalator reliability and safety, the Responsible Person is encouraged to consider the installation of lift or escalator modernisation components instead of total lift or escalator replacement. The installation of a double brake, an unintended car movement protection on brake, ascending car overspeed protection, advanced car door mechanical lock and door safety edge, intercom & CCTV, and automatic rescue devices, are usually recommended. For escalator modernisation including the installation of skirt panel safety devices, skirt panel deflector devices, emergency stop switches, landing floor plate safety devices, auxiliary brake, step sagging safety devices and missing step safety devices, change of control and/or motor for the service on demand features, are usually recommended.
To plan for lift or escalator modernisation, it is recommended for the Responsible Person employ an experienced Independent Lift or Escalator Consultant to evaluate the existing installation.
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Replacement Planning
If a Responsible Person is to consider a plan for total replacement of a lift or an escalator, the following major factors should be considered.
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Equipment age (typically exceeding 25 years operation)
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Fault frequency (frequently experiencing faults regardless of its maintenance frequency)
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Spare parts availability (equipment has become obsolete and spare parts will no longer be produced by the manufacturers)
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Law and safety requirements (do not comply with the latest law and safety requirements)
An alternative to determining the need for lift or escalator total replacement is to approach the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor to provide professional recommendation, including studying the maintenance history, trend analysis of faults type and frequency, spare and defective part studies, computer modelling of lift or escalator replacement, etc.
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Detail Replacement / Implementation Planning To Minimise Impact To User Operation
To plan for the replacement of lifts or escalators, it is recommended that the Responsible Person employ an experienced independent lift or escalator expert to assess the work involving the following considerations for the sake of minimising impact to user operation and facilitating project implementation and management:
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Feasibility studies of replacement of the lifts with possibility to upgrade lift capacity and speed with the current lift shaft provisions on the structural and mechanical aspects.
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Feasibility studies of replacement of the escalators with possibility to allow the service on demand features with the current escalator wellway provisions on the structural and spatial aspects.
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Project planning involving tendering, administration, management and various contract issues.
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Planning for stage replacements in the case of multiple lifts or escalators.
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Quality control of workmanship.
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Supervision of contractors’ work and consideration with other trade contractor.
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Progress monitoring.
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Testing and commissioning work.
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Handover.
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Defect liability, rectification and monitoring.
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Contract completion.
2.9.3 Best Practice
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Conduct Holistic Review on System Performance In The Planning And Design
During the stage of examining the A&A works and replacement of lifts or escalators, it is a commendable practice to conduct an overall and holistic review on the lift or escalator system performance in the planning and design for equipment replacement. The factors to be considered shall include enhancing system reliability, operational safety, operational efficiency, energy saving and efficiency, detailed further below:
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New installation normally provide innovative and up-to-date technologies for best performance in operation reliability.
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New lifts normally operate safety and smoothly with less faults in the early years.
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Newly replaced installation with hi-tech machineries can normally provide good operation and smooth riding comfort. Some design provisions may allow faster speed and more capacity.
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New installation may include re-generation of electricity provisions to provide energy efficiencies.
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New installation often supports hi-tech energy efficient motors to provide energy efficiencies.
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Seamless Implementation with Backup Arrangement
During the implementation of lift or escalator replacement, it is necessary to consider backup arrangement of lift or escalator service in order not to seriously affect the operation service of the lift banks. For example, if one lift is taken out of operation for replacement works, the lift bank services during the morning/lunch peak hours can be supplemented by a nearby passenger lift in the back of house area. After peak hours, the back of house passenger lift will resume its normal function. For the case of escalator, sufficient notice and sign shall be given to passengers to use a nearby passenger lift if available.
As there is potential for other lift faults to arise during lift or escalator replacement, it is always necessary to plan ahead for backup arrangements for different scenarios with suitable personnel on standby for efficient operation arrangements.
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Consideration of Life-Cycle Cost In Planning And Design
In order to provide the best service for grade A office buildings, Responsible Persons should consider life-cycle cost analysis for lift or escalator replacement work. Lift or escalator service for high grade buildings or venue for public service cannot be deteriorated due to spare parts, frequent faults, etc. To achieve a high-performance building standard, new design, innovative technology and high-performance lift or escalator systems may be considered even when the lift or escalator is less than 20 years old.
To justify efficient operations and energy efficiency, it is common to consider life-cycle costing. New lifts or escalators require significant initial costs, but provide lower operation costs due to efficient motors and advance controls, and lower maintenance costs during the first year of operation due to manufacturer warranty and elimination of frequent replacement of aged parts and components. Aged installation involve high operation costs and high maintenance costs due to traditional motors and control, frequent breakdowns, etc. To act as an aid in lift or escalator replacement decisions, conducting a 25-year life cycle cost analysis is recommended to produce a solid evidence-based report to consult.
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Employ Independent Consultants for Project Management
It is common for the Responsible Person to employ an Independent Consultant to take up the role of lift or escalator replacement project management. The Consultant should carry out the following scope, and assist the Responsible Person with implementation:
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Feasibility studies of replacement of the lifts with examination of upgrading lift capacity and speed.
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Feasibility studies of replacement of the escalators with examination of using the service on demand features.
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Morning / lunch peak survey and recommendations on improvement of lift traffic pattern.
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Conduct life-cycle cost analysis.
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Holistic review of A&A and replacement work.
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Backup arrangement during implementation.
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Project planning involving tendering, administration, management and various contract issues.
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Planning for stage replacements in the case of multiple lifts or escalators.
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Project management and funding application, if applicable.
2.10 Incident Management
Incident management refers to the "the combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures and communications operating within a common organisational structure, designed to aid in the management of resources during incidents".
When a service is disrupted or fails to deliver the promised performance during service hours, it is essential to restore the service to normal operation as quickly as possible. In addition, any condition that has the potential to result in a breach or degradation of service ought to trigger a response that prevents the actual disruption from occurring. These are the objectives of incident management.
2.10.1 General Practice
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Notify Relevant Parties as per Statutory Requirements
It is a statutory requirement that the Responsible Person shall notify EMSD, in writing by using the specified form, and the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor, of any reportable lift or escalator incidents, including the death or injury of a person, failure of the main drive, breakage of any suspension rope, failure of overspeed governor, safety gear, overload device, interlocking device of the lift door or brake, failure of escalator brake, step chain, drive chain, or safety equipment, within 24 hours of coming into knowledge of the incident.
If the lift or escalator involved in the incident cannot resume operations within the specified 4-hour period, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall notify all users by displaying a notice on the specified form describing the type of incident involved, and reason for suspension.
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Conduct Internal Incident Investigation
Upon receiving an incident notification from the Responsible Person, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall carry out an investigation and submit a detailed report to EMSD within 7 days.
Internal incident investigation shall be carried out by Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor. The process for reporting, tracking, and investigating incidents involves the checking of staffing, performance, and documentation, and tracking of investigations on process safety incidents and the trending of incident investigation data to identify recurring incidents.
2.10.2 Good Practice
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Conduct Incident Investigation and Streamline Rescue Time
For serious incidents involving serious injury and death, internal investigation by Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor may not be sufficient. It is recommended that a thorough investigation with sufficient details should be covered by an independent professional third party.
Breakdown of a lift or power failure of a building commonly leads to the trapping of lift passengers. With a thorough review of the incident investigation report, the Responsible Person shall be able set a time limit within which the Registered Lift Contractor must send personnel to rescue the trapped passengers. The definition of the rescue time limit in the maintenance contract should consider the Registered Lift Contractor’s service centre location, number of emergency staff during and outside of office hours, emergency procedures in case of a typhoon, etc.
The Responsible Person should set up an incident management procedure for staff to learn and be trained to streamline rescue time and work.
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Establish Emergency Manual
During lift or escalator incidents, it is always a good practice to anticipate response from the team employed by the Responsible Person. Lift or escalator incidents can be categorised in cases of injury, death, trapping, water leakage and flooding, typhoon situations, etc. The development of an Emergency Procedures Manual should equip employees with specific procedures and guidelines for dealing with a variety of different incident situations that may occur. Training of staff shall be necessary to cope with the different types of incidents. This manual should provide guidelines for specific actions by employees and workers and should be reviewed from time to time.
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Conduct Third Party Independent Lift or Escalator Audit
For serious incidents involving serious injury and death, internal investigation by Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor may not be sufficient. It is recommended that a thorough investigation to a reasonably detailed extent should be carried out by a qualified independent third party. A third-party independent audit should include investigation of root cause to identify the most probable deficiency or failure reason, such as component functions, maintenance conditions, etc. The Responsible Person may consider the recommendations from the independent professionals for enhancing the maintenance of the lifts or escalators.
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Conduct Necessary Alteration / Addition for System Reliability
Serious incidents may arise from old lifts or escalators without the installation of the up-to-date safety devices recently recommended by EMSD to enhance system reliability and safety. The Responsible Person should seriously consider the installation of these devices to prevent the future occurrence of incidents. The installation shall be regarded as alteration and additional work.
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Review on Operation And Maintenance Procedures
Following serious incidents and subsequent investigation through independent third party audits, the lift or escalator professional will give recommendations on O&M.
For operations, lift modernisation including the installation of a double brake, unintended car movement protection device on brake system, ascending car overspeed protection, advanced car door mechanical lock and door safety edge, intercom & CCTV, and automatic rescue devices, are usually recommended. For escalator modernisation including the installation of skirt panel safety devices, skirt panel deflector devices, obstruction guards, emergency stop switches, landing floor plate safety devices, auxiliary brake, step sagging safety devices and missing step safety devices, are usually recommended. For maintenance, various recommendations on preventive and corrective issues should be implemented into the maintenance contract.
2.10.3 Best Practice
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Sharing of Critical Incidents with All O&M Personnel
It is strongly recommended that incident information be shared among all O&M staff within the same organisation/trade. The sharing of incident experience is valuable as it will provide an information platform to all staff to learn and become aware of critical issues underlying various incidents. Each incident experience should upgrade and improve the contractor’s maintenance quality.
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Prevent Re-Occurrence of Incidents
Incident review and sharing are important issues in providing good maintenance quality. Incident faults occurring in any particular model/type of lift or escalator should provide insight to the same type of lift or escalator installed in another venues. Precautionary actions should therefore be taken in order to eliminate similar problems in the other venues.
2.11 Environmental and Safety Management
Environmental and Safety Management ensures that operations are safe for all building users and visitors. Building Owners are obliged to implement all reasonable precautions to protect the environment, and maximise the building’s life cycle efficiencies.
2.11.1 General Practice
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Fulfil Statutory Requirements on Environmental And Safety Management
Under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation (Cap. 59), proprietors or contractors of certain industrial undertakings are required to develop, implement and maintain, in respect of their undertakings, an environmental and safety management system which contains a number of key process elements. Issues regarding lift and escalator safety refer to the proper O&M of lifts and escalators.
The relevant environmental legislations relating to lift and escalator installation are the Noise Control Ordinance (Cap. 400) and the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap. 354).
2.11.2 Good Practice
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Establish Environmental Management System and Safety Management System
Establishing an internationally recognised system that excesses statutory requirements on lift system is regarded as a good practice.
The Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) and Safety Management System (OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001) involve planning, developing, organising and implementing. Planning is the process of determining in advance what should be accomplished. Developing is the process of determining how the safety and health objectives should be realised. Organising is the process of prescribing formal relationships between people and resources in the organisation to accomplish objectives. Implementing is the process of carrying out or putting into practice the plans to achieve the desired objectives, with appropriate and adequate control to ensure proper performance in accordance with the plans.
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Adoption of Eco-Friendly And Sustainable Systems / Practices
Regarding the adoption of eco-friendly and energy saving lift & escalator systems and sustainability in design, various initiatives can be considered:
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Machine-room-less system
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Double decker lifts
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Computerised control system
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In-Cab sensor
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Destination dispatch software
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Regenerative drive system
Regarding noise pollution controls, the following issues relating to lift installation are to be considered:
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Location of machine room at plant room with thick walls with sound adsorption materials, and soundproof doors
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Selection of quiet driving machines
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Adoption of practices such as regular lubrication moving parts, replacement of worn-out components and inspection of equipment alignment
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Use of anti-vibration pad or vibration isolator to avoid structural vibration transmission
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Selection of silent type exhaust fans
Regarding waste disposal controls, the following issues relating to lift installation are to be considered:
A trip-ticket system is a recording system for orderly disposal of construction waste to disposal facilities by trucks. The implementation of such a system ensures a certain level of accountability. Moreover, it facilitates the recording of waste as it arrives at the landfill or public filling area and minimises the potential for cross-contamination with other wastes, which the vehicle operator may pick-up en route to the disposal facility.
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Proper Documentation Of The Environmental And Safety Management System
When an environmental and safety management system is developed, comprehensive and accurate documentation of the system shall be required. All policies, goals and objectives, duties and responsibilities of key environmental and safety personnel, policies and procedures that make up the program should be documented. Documentation is typically consolidated into an environmental and safety management system manual, or in other operations manuals or an electronic database system.
2.11.3 Best Practice
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Third Party Audit On Execution Of The Environmental Management And Safety Plan
Third party audit is conducted primarily for the purpose of assessing the execution of management system, ongoing behaviour, performance and risk that each third party relationship represents to a company. This will include both contractual and non-contractual parties. The audit should take place every year.
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Identify Improvements on The Environmental Management And Safety Plan Regularly
Environmental and safety review constitutes the “feedback loop” which enables the relevant industrial undertaking to reinforce, maintain and develop its ability to reduce risks to the fullest extent and to ensure the continued effectiveness of the environmental and safety management system. The review should be conducted by a review officer who can be an employee of the relevant industrial undertaking to be reviewed or an outsider who is not an employee of the relevant industrial undertaking. He shall be a person who is capable of competently carrying out a review. He will identify any areas of improvement. He should have a good understanding of the operation of lifts and escalators; and the legal requirements in Hong Kong relating to industrial safety and health, and should have received appropriate training on how to review the effectiveness of an environmental and safety management system with a view to improving it.
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Monthly Report On Safety And Environmental Issues Of The Site Concerned
A monthly report should be provided by the contractor to summarise the following items:
(a)
The environmental and safety performance across the contract works;
(b)
Environmental and safety risk across the maintenance works;
(c)
Any significant environmental and safety incidents for the month and any recent updates on past incidents;
(d)
The progress against the environmental and safety work program.
2.12 Application of Technologies
Technology and tools can be used to lower the cost of implementing and managing O&M best management practices.
2.12.1 General Practice
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Adopt minimum market available technologies
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Adopt minimum market available technologies as required by statutory requirements (e.g. Code of Practice on the Design and Construction of Lifts and Escalators);
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Check and ensure that relevant statutory requirements are fulfilled when adopting new technological solutions.
2.12.2 Good Practice
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Latest Computerised Control Systems Including Self-Learning System
The latest computerised control systems, such as a self-learning system, is a technology using algorithms that learns from existing traveling data to automatically improve the lift performance. During the learning period, the lift control system collects, stores and evaluates data. The traveling data will be used to study traffic patterns and optimise the lift dispatching pattern so as to minimise the time spent by passengers in the lift. This self-learning system, for instance, will assign an appropriate number of lifts to floors which have been identified with the highest population requiring transportation.
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On-Site Adjustable Operation Program
Operation patterns of lifts will vary depending on the type of building, which are interrelated to building activities and population distribution. An on-site adjustable operation program is important to address issues including non-service floors, dedicated lift services, bypass floors for speedy service, etc. in a short period of time. Lift technicians or even the property management team can adjust the operation program easily in the computerised control station at the building.
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Implementation of Energy Regenerative unit
For conventional lifts, the power generated by the traction machine is dissipated as heat in the building. Lifts equipped with regenerative units act as a power generator when travelling downwards with a heavy load or upwards with a light load. Moreover, lifts equipped with regenerative unit can capture and condition the regenerated power to be fed directly into the building electrical system for immediate consumption. Compared to conventional lifts, regenerative lifts are 20% to 30% more energy efficient.
In general, for all new lift installations with rated speed over 2.5 m/s, energy regenerative units are included as standard design.
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Service on demand control
A lift control system with demand control functions will distinguish peak hours and high demand, and adjust lift service efficiency accordingly. The latest lift group control system allows multiple lifts to work together systematically and optimally, aiming to provide maximum convenience to passengers. Lift control systems should be designed to detect and manage the operation patterns in different nature buildings.
There are three elements, speed of lift, numbers of lift and serviced floor, and can be adjusted as according to the exact population flow for every landing floor during the peak traffic hours. This also applies to high / low zone assignment.
An escalator control system with passenger detection system will distinguish the idling period during traffic demand and adjust the escalator service efficiency accordingly. The escalator will resume to its normal speed when passenger is approaching the escalator at the upper or lower landing subject to its entrance side. Further consideration in respect of safety, operation and riding quality should be considered when deploying automatic stop at low traffic demand period.
2.12.3 Best Practice
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Video or load analytics for lift control during peak usage periods
Video or load analytics is a technology which is used to identify or verify numbers of passenger waiting on each landing floor from a video source, or if inside the lift car from a load sensor. In general, video or load analytics works through identifying humans, analysing the demand and providing solutions.
As there may be cases of lift passengers in wheelchairs, baby carriages, and other large objects that occupy space but do not cause an exceedance of the lift rated load, the advanced system evaluates the occupied lift car floor area for floor bypass services.
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Remote monitoring system
A remote monitoring system is an internet data control system for new lifts that have been designed for networking lifts. It shall provide other functions for remote monitoring, faults received, and data transmission to a 24-hour service centre.
A sophisticated self-checking program can function on the basis of big data in maintenance statistics by comparing the operation status of all critical components. If some components are deteriorating to their end of service life cycle, the program will prompt for early parts replacement instead of waiting for the actual fault to happen. This is an advance technology for predictive maintenance.
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Application of IoT and big data analytics
The latest technology of IoT and “Big Data Analytics” to analyse maintenance records is highly recommended as best practice. This advanced technology can be developed by the lift or escalator manufacturers together with software companies, and can obtain the necessary data by installing non-intrusive sensors on the lift or escalator equipment. The data can be transmitted to the client or lift companies through the mobile network or LAN network. The maintenance data of lifts or escalators and critical components will be recorded and transferred to the system for further analysis and comparison against benchmarks. The O&M data from the same model or series of installation will be gathered, compared and listed systematically for corrective and planned maintenance, and management. Big data analysis for maintenance data could provide useful statistics results, such as the total number of operating equipment, average number of equipment breakdowns per month, accumulated number of equipment breakdowns in current month, most frequent fault log records, trends of faults for certain components etc., and could lead to predictive maintenance in the future.
2.13 Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management is a set of techniques that harnesses the positive influences and minimises the effect of the negative influences. It involves systematic identification, analysis, planning and implementation of actions designed to engage with stakeholders. Stakeholders are individuals or groups with an interest in the building or facility operation because they are involved in the work or affected by the outcomes. Most buildings or facilities and portfolios will have a variety of stakeholders with different, and sometimes competing, interests. These individuals and groups can have significant influence over the eventual success or failure of the work.
2.13.1 General Practice
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Notification of Stakeholders on Service Interruption
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Notify stakeholders (e.g. property management company, incorporated owners, building occupants and tenants) on the works schedule of maintenance activities and installation works which involve service interruption;
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Implement an emergency plan to minimise service suspension.
2.13.2 Good Practice
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Notification of stakeholders on scheduling maintenance activities involving service interruption
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should prepare and submit the maintenance program for the approval of stakeholders. Upon the approval of the maintenance program, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should provide the maintenance schedules for all the preventive maintenance tasks, to be based on both manufacturers’ recommendations and other authoritative sources. Moreover, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall also advise and recommend the features in which replacement and/or repair are required before the product or component life-cycle has come to an end.
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Coordination with stakeholders on service needs to improve system reliability and performance
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should provide inspection and servicing regularly, for which the frequency shall not be less than the statutory requirement. All maintenance works should be well planned, coordinated, and organised with sufficient staff and adequate tools in order to meet the satisfaction of stakeholders. The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should meet with stakeholders to report any inspection findings, unsatisfactory items and the worn components regularly. Discussions should be recorded.
2.13.3 Best Practice
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Engagement of stakeholders on O&M activities scheduling for addition, alterations and replacement works
Engagement of stakeholders is the process by which the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor involves parties who may be affected by the decisions it makes or can influence the implementation of its decisions. An underlying principle of stakeholder engagement is that stakeholders are provided the chance to influence the decision-making process on the topic of O&M activities scheduling for addition, alterations and replacement works.
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Keep stakeholders well informed on progress of all O&M activities, performance of building systems
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor should report to the stakeholders on any defects, findings and performance of the building fabric, cladding or the lighting/power socket, ventilation/air-conditioning in the lift machine room, safety notices and signs, floor intersection guards, etc. If there are any necessary repairs, the work should be carried out either by others or by the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor.
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Conduct a third-party independent audit
To evaluate the lift or escalator system reliability and performance, it is advisable to employ a third-party professional to conduct an independent audit covering all lifts or escalators at least once a year. After the inspection, the third party shall provide an independent audit report including, but not limited to, the following information:
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Findings with photo record
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Visual check on all major equipment
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Functionally tests on all safety components
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Short-term and long-term recommendations
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Replacement / modernisation recommendation
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Maintenance quality review
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Breakdown trend analysis
2.14 Information Management
During the life of the system, the O&M Phase is the longest and most expensive and the information system provides the most value to the organisation in this phase.
2.14.1 General Practice
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Proper record of certificates and documentations as per statutory requirements by relevant parties
In accordance with Section 39 (1) of the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (Cap. 618), the Responsible Person must ensure that the Use Permit is displayed at all times in a conspicuous position in accordance with the guidelines set out below:
1.
The Use Permit should be posted such that the bottom of the Use Permit is at a height of at least 1m above floor level of the lift car;
2.
The Use Permit should be posted such that the top of the Use Permit is at a height of not higher than 1.8m above floor level of the lift car;
3.
The Use Permit should be posted adjacent to the landing of an escalator, such as on the balustrade or obstruction guards; and
4.
The Use Permit should not be obstructed by any items, including leaflets, stickers or notices.
According to the Lifts and Escalators (General) Regulation (Cap. 618A), the Responsible Person for a lift/escalator shall keep the record of the logbook for at least 3 years. The log-book shall be in the specified form, (LE50L) for lift and (LE50) for escalator, and contain specified information and particulars such as description of the installation and installation contractors, specifications of lift/escalator, maintenance contractor and maintenance duration for lifts/escalators, details of work, maintenance schedule, etc. Such a record shall be produced for the enforcement officer’s inspection within 3 days after the date of receipt of the request.
2.14.2 Good Practice
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Sharing of maintenance information among different stakeholders
Maintenance information, such as the O&M Manual, Preventive Maintenance Procedures, Corrective Maintenance Plan, Maintenance Record, Parts Inventory Record, etc., should be stored in a registered location/office. The stakeholders, i.e. the law enforcement officers, Responsible Person, management officers, maintenance contractor, etc., shall access such registered location/office upon demand.
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Comparison of similar type of lift or escalator system
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is requested to establish a Computerised Maintenance Management Information System in order to collect and analyse data. The statistics will be generated based on the similar type of lift or escalator (speed, no. of stop, capacity, nature of buildings etc.). The stakeholders can identify and compare the performance of the particular lift system in the market.
2.14.3 Best Practice
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Common platform for storage and dissemination of O&M information with a view to enhancing the transparency
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractors should maintain O&M information with high transparency and promote proper maintenance. It is recommended to store and disseminate O&M information on the common electronic platform, such as Cloud storage. The stakeholders, i.e. the law enforcement officers, Responsible Person, management officers, maintenance workers, etc. should have easy access to the O&M information.
2.15 Structure and Qualification of O&M Team
Structure is the people, positions, procedures, processes, culture, technology and related elements that comprise the organisation. It defines how all the pieces, parts and processes work together. This structure must be totally integrated with the strategy defined for the organisation to achieve its mission and goals. Structure supports strategy. If an organisation changes its strategy, it must change its structure to support the new strategy. When it doesn’t, the structure acts like a bungee cord and pulls the organisation back to its old strategy.
2.15.1 General Practice
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In-house training
In accordance with Sections 1(b) of Part 2, Schedule 10 of the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance, the Registered Lift or Escalator Workers who apply for renewal of registration shall complete at least 30 hours of relevant training within the 5-year period immediately before the date of submission of the renewal application.
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall provide the in-house training and other training opportunities to the members of O&M team. These training sessions are required to maintain, improve and broaden knowledge and skills, and develop their personal skills in the profession. Appropriate balance shall be maintained among the following subject areas:
(a) General occupational health, safety and environmental protection;
(b) Safety for Lift and Escalator work;
(c) Practical technology and appropriate codes of practice for lift and escalator’s installation, demolition, maintenance, repair, commissioning, and examination;
(d) New technology within the lift and escalator industry; and
(e) General Professional Matters (such as business management, supervision skills, customer service skills and other related matters).
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Maintenance team / contractors available but on-call
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor shall provide a Qualified Person who is a Registered Lift or Escalator Engineer or a Registered Lift or Escalator Worker to provide a monthly maintenance service to maintain efficient and prompt response to breakdowns, emergency call-outs or complaints for installation/equipment failure and/or unsatisfactory services.
According to the Code of Practice on Lift Works and Escalator Works Section 6.4, upon receipt of a passenger entrapment call, the Registered Lift Contractor shall dispatch two or more lift workers to the scene to release the trapped passengers. Only lift workers who are conversant with the characteristics of the lift in question shall be deployed to handle the release operation. At least one of these two lift workers shall be a Qualified Person.
2.15.2 Good Practice
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Resident O&M team with supervisors and maintenance personnel with proper qualifications
Employment of a resident O&M team is considered as a good practice as it exceeds the statutory requirements. The resident O&M team should consist of experienced supervisors and maintenance workers. At least one of the workers should be a Qualified Person. Moreover, the lift workers should attend and complete the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor’s or manufacturer’s training in order to become conversant with the characteristics of the particular lift model.
2.15.3 Best Practice
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Engineers / maintenance managers to oversee and review
The engineer / maintenance managers of the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor are recommended to oversee and review the maintenance activities / practices and maintenance records periodically; for example, quarterly. The purpose of supervision and review actions is to ensure the procedures and performances of maintenance activities / practices align with the O&M Manual and the standard of the Registered Lift Contractor.
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Centralised / Regional Command Centre(s) for O&M activities
In order to provide the best service for continuous 24-hour O&M activities, the Registered Lift or Escalator Contractors should consider establishing a Centralised / Regional Command Centre. The emergency response technicians with necessary tools should be on standby in the Centralised / Regional Command Centre, so as to minimise the response time for the installation breakdown call or passenger entrapment call. The selected critical spare parts should be stored in the Centralised / Regional Command Centre based on the recommendations from the AI technology for maintenance data analysis.
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Training maintenance team for use of BIM
The Registered Lift or Escalator Contractor is recommended to use BIM to optimise the planning, implementation and management of a lift system. BIM is a process that covers planning, designing, building and managing the facilities of a building, including the lift system. The maintenance team should take advantage of BIM and the monitoring system, such as collecting and recording the parts information, tracking the condition of parts, identifying the life span of parts, and determining a part’s replacement schedule.
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