Stair Lift Safety Features

The Importance of Stair Lift Safety Features

Stair lifts are designed with the users safety & comfort at the forefront of their designs. However, different brands of stair lift have different safety features that may be missing from others.

These safety features may not all be included with every model of stairlift, however if they are a reputable stairlift manufacturer they would want to include as many of these as possible if not all of them.

Here is an expansive list of the safety features that are typically included with a stair lift.

1: Seat belt

All modern lifts will have a seat belt built into the chair. A seat belt is an effective way of making sure that the user of the stair lift does not accidentally slip out of the chair whilst it’s in use. Some models of stair lift will not allow for the lift to move until the individual using the machine has buckled up their seat belt to ensure that their safety is taken care of.

2: Obstruction Sensors

Obstruction Sensors can be a lifesaving safety feature. Obstruction sensors are built into the lift & If there is anything that’s blocking the path of the lift it with automatically stop it. These obstruction sensors are very important if you have pets or children who may leave objects on the stairs.

3: Swivel Seats

Swivel seats are a heavily underrated safety feature of many stairlifts. A swivel seat allows for you to rotate the seat 90 degrees away from the staircase & towards the landing. Having the ability to rotate your seat away from the staircase lowers the risk of falling down the stairs whilst dismounting greatly.

Depending on the model you can either have an electronically powered swivel seat or a manual one.

4: Speed Limiter

All commercial stair lifts are built in with a speed limiter. A speed limiter is very important as if a lift was made to go too quickly, the whiplash from a very fast stairlift could cause injury. A speed limiter allows for the lift to move at a slow but safe speed, ensuring that the user is always in control of where the lift is going.

5: Emergency Stop Button

At Senior Stairlifts, we believe that an emergency stop button is an essential safety feature that all stair lifts should have. In the case that there is a mechanical or electrical fault that doesn’t allow for the lift to stop by regular means, an emergency stop button is engineered to be a foolproof method of stopping the lift in its tracks.

6: Emergency Contact Button

Similarly to the emergency stop button, an emergency call button can be used in an emergency to contact either a loved one or emergency services. On models of lift like the Flow X, you can even program the emergency contact button to have 3 customized numbers stored into the lift itself.

7: Key Lock

Whilst this now an older feature, many stairlifts feature a key locking mechanism. Your Stairlift may come with a set of keys, similarly to car which will not allow the lift to operate unless the key is in the ignition & turned.

This feature allows for you to be certain that you would like to move, however this can also cause for problems if the user forgets about the key lock needing to be turned for the lift to operate.

8: Diagnostic Display

Whilst a diagnostic display is something that a stairlift engineer will be interacting with a lot, it can also give a user vital information about the well being of their lift. It can keep users informed about the battery levels & can bring up alerts detected.

9: Independent Battery

The Stairlifts that we offer come with an independent battery. This allows for the lift to be able to still work in the event of a power cut. We know that stairlifts can be a vital tool for many within their homes & we wouldn’t want for people to not be able to move around their homes during a power cut.

10: Constant Energy Efficient Charging

To make sure that the independent battery does not die or go flat, it is important that a stair lift is plugged into the mains. This allows for the battery to have a constant low voltage flow of energy, which will stop the battery from dying & will increase the lifespan of said battery.

If you would like to see how much energy a stairlift uses, we have an extended discussion on that topic.

Conclusion

Whether you are concerned with the safety of a stairlift, or are researching the safety features that are or should be included with your life we hope that this article has proven useful for finding out more about the safety features that are normally included with a lift.

The Importance of regular maintenance

Making sure that you are on top of your maintenance schedule for a lift will help with the lifespan of the lift in question. If you have noticed your lift becoming unresponsive or slowing down, you can contact Senior Stairlifts & we can see what we can do to help.