Lift Hygiene & Security Guidelines During COVID

What happens if the lift door opens and someone is already inside? Do you get in or wait for the next lift? In the wake of Covid-19, practicing precautions and also investing in lift technologies is important to avoid the spread of the virus via lifts. As people transition back to normal routines, lifts are the easiest way to access offices as well as residential places, and ensuring that people are aware and practice lift hygiene and security guidelines goes a long way in ensuring their overall safety in these times.

Lifts are close quarters and to compound this, used by millions of people every day which means they can be a ripe place for virus spread. Hence, not only should facility management or building management install the necessary measures and guidelines to ensure safe lift use but also, they should ensure that lift users are aware of these measures and adhere to the guidelines. For anyone using a lift, you need to know how to maintain personal hygiene and safety inside a lift. Here are some guidelines for facility management to implement and tenants to follow:

• Passenger Limit

Building management services following the guidelines of social distancing by public health institutions have put a limit on the number of passengers in lifts which ranges from 2 to 4. While it can be difficult to micromanage and enforce this, by putting visible warnings to take the stairs or limit the number of passengers in every lift, people can adhere to this regulation for the most part.

• Tooth pick at Lift Lobby And Inside

Another simple step to follow, is to stick a thermocol piece outside the lift and inside as well. These thermocol pieces will have Toothpicks stuck on them. The sole purpose of these is that, passengers should not touch buttons themselves. A cut out bottle can be hung to throw the used toothpicks.

• Mask within the Lift & Wall facing

It is suggested to not remove the mask when travelling in the lift, as virus particles maybe in the air. Also, it is best to face the walls when there are more people getting in.

• Install Hand Sanitizer Dispensers in Lobbies

Facility management should install hand sanitizer dispensers in lobbies and lift entrances to ensure that residents and workers make use of them to sanitize, as lift buttons are especially touched a lot. Facility management also ensure frequent disinfection of lifts to maintain hygiene and safety for users. On the other hand, anyone who uses a lift should follow guidelines and also sanitize themselves before getting in the lift and after leaving it.

• Time Restrictions

Aside from capacity restrictions where facility management limits the number of passengers per lift, they can also employ the use of time restrictions to avoid traffic jams by staggering tenant start times.

• Create Designated Areas

Besides signs of lift guidelines to ensure capacity restrictions and cleanliness, creating designated areas in the larger lifts to ensure proper social distancing for the passengers is another safety measure that can prevent the virus from spreading. Smaller lifts can have a single passenger rule to avoid contact and practice social distances. Especially use case can be seen in Hospitals.

These rules and guidelines as enforced by building management services are great to ensure that even while people get back to normal routines, they do not put themselves at risk of contracting Covid-19.