Article by Tadeusz Popielas, Secretary General of the Polish Association of Lift Manufacturers (PALM) – 18 February 2019
The issues related to the operation of handling equipment subject to technical supervision are regulated by national law.
Fifteen years after the establishment of the legal framework and fourteen years after Poland's accession to the European Union, the Ordinance of the Minister of Economy, Labour and Social Policy of October 29, 2003, the technical conditions for technical supervision in the field of operation of some of the handling devices were updated.
The Regulation of the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology of October 30, 2018 regarding the technical conditions for the technical supervision relating to the operation, repair and modernisation of handling equipment (Journal of Laws 2018, 21 November 2018, item 2176) was published on November 21 and became mandatory as from December 6, 2018.
This Regulation introduced the definition of the service life in national law as limit values used to assess and identify the technical state, defined on the basis of the number of operating cycles and the loading conditions of handling equipment throughout the foreseeable lifetime, taking into account its actual operating conditions.
The Regulation imposed new obligations on the operator of handling equipment:
- Where the course of operation of handling equipment is not recorded for reasons beyond the operator’s control, said operator shall recreate it on the basis of current technical knowledge and good engineering practice.
- Where the service life of handling equipment is not known, the operator shall determine it on the basis of current technical knowledge and good engineering practice.
- Where the service life is surpassed, the operator shall conduct a technical assessment of handling equipment or shall commission such an assessment.
The operator of handling equipment has one year to perform this technical assessment from the date of the current periodic inspection performed by the competent technical supervision body.
When analysing the concept of service life, it should be emphasized that it concerns only devices whose design of load-bearing structures is based on the fatigue assessment of the load bearing system based on the assumed number of operating cycles and the load condition.
In summary, with such assumptions, the awareness of users / investors about the quality of delivered devices, as to the quality / price ratio, is a chance for better quality on the market. Also, the owners of the lifts should get an impulse to modernize the lifts being used.
The Technical Supervision Office has also developed guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the new regulation.