Upper Platform

Upper Platform

What Are Platform Lifts?

Platform lifts are designed to be utilised in public buildings. For example in schools, leisure facilities, retail and offices.

­­­­­They are designed to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and buildings regulations part M.

As building accessibility has become an expectation over the last few decades, the platform lift market has grown.  Originally platform lifts had a 1500mm capacity but have now evolved to include low rise lifts with a half-height gate at the upper level, as well as fully enclosed lifts that can travel as high as 14 metres.

Different types of platform lifts include the traditional L shaped lift, fully enclosed lift and heavy duty lifts. There are many sizes of lift available and capacity can range from three to thirteen people. They can also travel from between two to six floors, with a maximum travel capacity of up to 14 metres.

Care must be taken when installing multi-floor high level lifts as the Disability Discrimination Act states that the maximum speed of theses lifts should not exceed 0.15 miles per second. A platform lift should never be considered as a cheaper option than a commercial passenger lift and it will not be looked upon kindly by buildings inspectors if a platform lift is installed as an alternative to a platform lift.

In the UK the law states that any new building must have reasonable access for people with disabilities. This means that a platform lift must be installed if there are parts of the building that can only be accessed by stairs.

Platform lifts have grown in popularity over the past few decades as people have realised the importance of allowing disabled people the same freedom and access as able bodied people.

In particular in the fields of education and in public buildings access issues have become vastly more important than they once were. This means that there is a greater demand to install platform lifts in older buildings.

If you are a building owner and need a platform lift installed, firstly, consult a reputable company as to what type of lift would fit in with your building. Your lift supplier should be able to give you all the information you need about legality and safety. The best companies will be happy to pass on the details of former clients so you can speak to people who've already had a lift installed and you can go along and have a look at work the company has done previously.

About the Author

For more information about platform lifts visit p-access.co.uk

I have a 7' high cat tower, but the upper most ("3rd story") tower's are coming loose. Anyone fixed this befor?

The first and second stories are very sturdy, because they are anchored in place by platforms above and below the columns of which the cat tower is made. The top story has three towers, and two have broken off already and one is very loose... because they are only anchored on the bottom, not the top and bottom like the rest of the tower.

The columns I was talking about are actually scratching posts, and when the two top towers broke off, I could see the inside of the scratching posts which are a sort of cardboard. There is an adhesive which glues a plastic, threaded base for the post to screw into the tower. Problem is, those plastic things inside the tower that the you screw into have come completely out of the scratching post towers.

I can't answer correctly with out seeing it can you take any pictures of it? Dose it need to be Glued back? or bolt tightened? or nailed ?

HEAT1X-Tycho Brahe inaugural flight / Upper Service Platform POV (PAL slow-motion version)