Impact of the A18.1 ASME Standard on Platform Lifts and Stairway Chairlifts on Accessibility and Usability

ABSTRACT

This article summarizes the effect of the ASME A18.1 Standard concerning accessibility and usability of Platform Lifts and their remaining technological challenges. While elevators are currently the most effective means of vertical transportation related to speed, capacity, rise and usability, their major drawbacks for accessibility are cost and space. Platform lifts and stairway chairlifts remain the “devices of choice” for small elevation changes in existing buildings. ADAAG limits them to very specific circumstances in new construction. The ASME A18.1 Standard addresses the safety requirements of inclined stairway chairlifts (which are not ADA compliant) and inclined and vertical platform lifts (which are ADA Compliant). Chairlifts do not provide access for wheeled mobility devices. Restricting access by means of keys is eliminated, inclined platform lift designs that do not interfere with stairway traffic, promoting new ideas for the design of vertical lifts, increasing the allowable vertical travel of a lift and strengthening lift ramps to improve their safety. Despite design advances inherent in the A18.1, significant platform lift usability issues continue to exist. Increased sizes and weights of powered mobility devices indicate that the permitted lift platform area be modified and that permitted weight capacities be codified as minimums instead of maximums.

KEYWORDS:

• accessibility codes
• platform lifts
• wheelchair

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Editorial support for this article was provided by the Rehabilitation Engineering Center on Universal Design at Buffalo, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The contents of the article do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of NIDRR.