Factories Act 1961

22 Hoists and lifts-general

(1) Every hoist or lift shall be of good mechanical construction, sound material and adequate strength, and shall be properly maintained.

(2) Every hoist or lift shall be thoroughly examined by a competent person at least once in every period of six months and a report of the result of every such examination in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars shall be signed by the person making the examination and shall within twenty-eight days be entered in or attached to the general register.

(3) Where the examination shows that the hoist or lift cannot continue to be used with safety unless certain repairs are carried out immediately or within a specified time, the person making the report shall within twenty-eight days of the completion of the examination send a copy of the report to the inspector for the district.

(4) Every hoistway or liftway shall be efficiently protected by a substantial enclosure fitted with gates, and the enclosure shall be such as to prevent, when the gates are shut, any person falling down the way or coming into contact with any moving part of the hoist or lift.

(5) Any such gate shall, subject to subsection (6) of this section and to section twenty-five of this Act, be fitted with efficient interlocking or other devices to secure that the gate cannot be opened except when the cage or platform is at the landing and that the cage or platform cannot be moved away from the landing until the gate is closed.

(6) If in the case of a hoist or lift constructed or reconstructed before the thirtieth day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, it is not reasonably practicable to fit it with such devices as are mentioned in subsection (5) of this section, it shall be sufficient if the gate—

(a) is provided with such arrangements as will secure the objects of that subsection so far as is reasonably practicable, and

(b) is kept closed and fastened except when the cage or platform is at rest at the landing.

(7) Every hoist or lift and every such enclosure as is mentioned in subsection (4) of this section shall be so constructed as to prevent any part of any person or any goods carried in the hoist or lift from being trapped between any part of the hoist or lift and any fixed structure or between the counterbalance weight and any other moving part of the hoist or lift.

(8) There shall be marked conspicuously on every hoist or lift the maximum working load which it can safely carry, and no load greater than that load shall be carried on any hoist or lift.