Lift Policy
At Magna, we are totally committed to ensuring the safety of our customers, colleagues and others who work with us. Our approach to managing the risk of lift safety is central to this commitment.
The purpose of this policy is to set out the principles that shape our lift safety standards and procedures, ensuring that we meet, as a minimum, all legal and regulatory requirements in the way we design, construct, manage, service and maintain our homes.
This policy applies to all through-floor lifts, stair lifts and passenger lifts owned and/or managed by Magna.
Scope of this Policy
This policy applies to:
• All homes, estates, communal buildings and offices owned and managed by Magna Housing;
• All colleagues and those employed by Magna in the design, construction, management and maintenance of our homes;
• All managing agents or lessees who manage or maintain homes and estates on our behalf.
The policy specifically covers:
• Arrangements for service stair lifts annually; through-floor lifts every six months and passenger lifts quarterly. The service schedules comply with the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFED) requirements.
• Arrangements for Magna’s insurers to carry out their own inspections of all lifts. The Insurers will undertake their inspections of stairs lifts annually and through-floor and passenger lifts every six months.
• Arrangements for risk assessment to be carried out when a stair or through-floor lift is proposed by an occupational therapist or lift designer. Risk assessments are then undertaken as part of the routine service inspections.
• Arrangements for void properties with a stair lift or through-floor lift that it is to be retained to be serviced prior to letting. An additional risk assessment will also be carried out.
• Arrangements to note any lift installations during the stock condition survey process to ensure property records and equipment lists are up to date.
• Arrangements to maintain records of all lift servicing completed when notified by the contractor.
• Arrangements for customers to obtain Magna’s permission to install a lift in their home if they fund the installation themselves or obtain charitable funding.
• Arrangements to maintain records of all new lifts installed when notified by the Council or the customer and maintain records of all lifts removed from properties when they receive confirmation documentation. We will ask customers at least every 3 years whether they have a lift in their home which is not being serviced
• The design, construction and maintenance of our homes;
• Communication with customers on lift safety measures and awareness.
Policy Statement
The safety of our customers, colleagues and contractors is at the heart of what we do at Magna. We are committed to ensuring that our arrangements to deliver the comprehensive range of lift safety management activities described in the scope consistently meet legal and regulatory requirements and achieve our Regulator’s Consumer Standard, as an absolute minimum. Where appropriate we will strive to achieve what is considered to be industry best practice.
In delivering this policy objective we are committed to ensuring that all those involved in managing lift safety at Magna demonstrate the appropriate competency levels and, where necessary, third-party accreditation. Magna employs specialist contractors to carry out servicing and repairs of lifts.
We are committed to building in a “golden thread” of quality from a lift safety perspective through the early stages of design, through the construction phase into management and maintenance of our homes.
We will consult with customers on lift safety related activities, inform them about the outcome of assessments, ensure awareness, provide advice and listen and respond to any safety related concerns.
The safety of our customers is paramount. We will ensure that resources and funding required to deliver lift safety related works are prioritised, taking into account a risk-based approach to the urgency of the work.
As a core safety service, we will ensure that performance on lift safety activity is regularly scrutinised to ensure continuous improvement and to ensure that any lessons are embedded.
Our Lift Safety Standard and Procedure
We want to make sure that we are really clear about the standards we are working to when it comes to lift safety management. We have developed a Lift Safety Standard, which defines what we will do to promote lift safety. The standard explains who is responsible for delivering the service and details how frequently we expect to carry out specific activities in customers’ homes, in common areas and on estates.
The standard is supported by a clear procedure and instructions to ensure that the services are delivered consistently by our internal teams and by specialist contractors. The standard and procedure are kept under constant review to ensure they are fit for purpose in a fast-changing environment.
Responsibilities for Lift Safety Management
The Director of Customer Operations is the accountable person in relation to all aspects of lift safety management at Magna and is responsible for the development and review of the Lift Policy and Lift Safety Standard, ensuring that these meet all regulatory requirements and guidance.
The Head of Building Safety and Compliance is responsible for operational delivery of lift safety management activities, for maintaining accurate lift safety related property data and is responsible for reporting on lift safety management in line with governance arrangements. The Head of Building Safety and Compliance is responsible for ensuring that customers are effectively consulted on all aspects of lift safety in their homes and estates.
All colleagues have a responsibility for ensuring that the work they undertake in delivering our policies and standards is fit for purpose.
Governance, Performance Management and Review
This policy, its associated standard and operational procedure will be monitored and reviewed by the Director of Customer Operations annually. The policy will be considered and approved annually by Board.
A range of performance measures and indicators, relating directly to the Lift Safety Standard, are reported to managers and directors as appropriate. High level performance indicators are reported to Board on a regular basis in line with their approved balanced scorecard.
Our performance on lift safety, including lessons learned from incidents will form part of the quarterly report to the Health and Safety Forum and will be included in the annual report to Board on corporate health and safety.