Those undertaking modernisation of a lift should be competent with the understanding the lift is either installed to a standard at the time it was first placed into service or by way of a conformity assessment route under a notified body and where the lift is declared as a “model lift”. These model lifts are typically mass manufactured and are limited to the exact requirements that deviate them against the standard such as, the rated speed, the rated load, the travel or mass of an empty car.

Understanding the importance of these restrictions can often be daunting and difficult to gather the information on and by using a risk assessment is a good example to capture these details. However there can often be components that are related to the equipment that also needs reviewing which can have a detrimental effect on the overall modernisation and consequences after the lift has been placed back in to service.

This paper looks at the implications when modernising lifts which have been subject to a conformity assessment and accompanied with CE marking.

This paper also looks at the testing methods when modernising lifts and where the parameters of the lift are changed, and what testing requirements are required before placing the lift back into service.