All the news on the formal vote of FprEN81-41

On May 27th, the members of the UNI / CT 019 Commission, the so-called UNI Lift Commission, were informed of the opening of the "Formal vote" relating to the revision of the FprEN81-41 - Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts - Special lifts for the transport of persons and goods - Part 41: Vertical lifting platforms intended for use by persons with impaired mobility.

This is the 2021 revision of the standard for lifting platforms for the disabled with not completely closed load support, approved for the first time in 2010.

The FprEN 81-41: 2021 document was prepared by the Technical Committee CEN / TC 10 "Lifts, escalators and moving walkways", whose secretariat is entrusted to AFNOR. The document, which in case of approval will replace, as mentioned, EN 81-41: 2010, will make it possible to meet the essential safety requirements of the European Directive relating to machinery and, for the relationship with the EU Directive, the Information annex ZA, which is an integral part of the document.

Among the other innovations compared to the 2010 edition, the following should be noted:

1) Modification of the drive systems required by the standard; in particular, the electric friction drive system was added.

2) Added timing belts as suspension means (covered ropes not included). For the moment the flat belt was not included in the scope of the standard since, at the time of the review, CEN was (and still is) working on the subject for lifts. In an informative attachment, the references on the subject taken from the American standard ASME A17-1 have been inserted to allow, for who wants more info on the topic, for food for thought while waiting for CEN to insert in the revision of the EN 81-20: 2020 and EN 81-50: 2020 most updated indications.

3) In-depth review of Annex ZA, informative, which contains the list of essential safety requirements applicable to Directive 2006/42 / EC and the individual clauses of the standard that satisfy them.

4) Introduction of devices that allow to detect the presence (or absence) of people in the car in order to prevent an external call command from moving the load support with universal push-button operation even in the presence of people in the inside of the load carrier. In this way the platform will operate as follows:

• The platform works from the outside with a man present when a person is detected in the load carrier.
• The platform will operate with universal push button operation when no person is detected in the carrier.
• The controls return to hold-to-run operation in the event of a failure of the person detection device.

5) Regarding the lighting of the load support, the following sentence has been proposed relating to the age-old problem concerning whether or not it is possible to keep the lighting in operation: “The platform must be continuously illuminated except when the support of the load is parked and the doors are closed”.

6) All references to the old EN81-1 and 2 standards have been updated with references to EN81-20 and 50 standards.

The closing date for voting is scheduled for July 22, 2021.

The hope is that this important document will finally be approved and made available to the industry interested in the design and construction of lifting platforms for the disabled.

By Marco Marchetti and Paolo Tattoli