Substandard lift, lack of maintenance and overloading are the major causes of accidents, some of which were fatal, at the multi-story residential and commercial buildings in the capital city and other parts of the country, experts and authorities concerned said.
They recommended establishing an effective lift monitoring system to ensure quality of lift and its maintenance for preventing accidents.
The issue of ensuring lift safety came to the forefront again after a 9-year-old girl died last week in the capital’s Shantinagar area when the sensor of a lift malfunctioned, trapping and killing her between the two sliding doors.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) chief architect Nargis Tanjiman said while approving building design, the city authorities give all necessary instructions about how many lifts should be installed in a particular high rise building.
Referring to an investigation report on a lift accident in a commercial building in the capital’s Uttara area last year, the RAJUK official said inadequate number of lift and lack of maintenance of the existing ones were the major causes for the accident.
“Although high rise buildings are being constructed as per the National Building Code-1993, there are no monitoring and controlling systems for properly maintaining of lifts at those buildings,” RAJUK Engineer Jamshed Ali told media.
Lift related accidents are rising across the country, including in Dhaka city due to installation of lift without effective sensor and proper security measures, he added.
Jamshed said Bangladesh is importing lifts mostly from China, India, Malaysia and South Korea. Besides, the country is also importing a small number of lifts from Japan, Germany and Italy.
However, he said many of the lifts are being imported without proper quality check as there no such practice.
“Owners and managing authorities of residential and commercial buildings should be more aware about maintaining their lifts as per the instruction of manufacturing companies,” said National Housing Authority Chairman Khandakar Aktaruzzaman.
General Secretary of Mechanical Department of Engineers Institute of Bangladesh (EIB) Engineer Ahsan Bin Bashar said risk of lift accident will increase if import of low quality lift is not stopped.
“It is very urgent to engage organizations having required expertise in certifying lift for ensuring proper and safe use of it,” he added.
