European Safety Standards for Platform Lifts - EN81-41

The European Parliament and the council of the European Union have decided that platform lifts fall under the jurisdiction of the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC and will henceforth fall under the new amended Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. so in legal terms a Lifting Platform is a machine not a lift.

Platform Lifts under the Machine Directive are regarded as annex IV machines.

For travel heights of more than 3.0 metres, Platform Lifts must pass an EC Type examination performed by an accredited European Notified body.

Platform Lifts must carry an EC declaration of Conformity and be CE marked before they can be legally placed into the markets within the European community.

The working group CEN/TC10/WG8 has drafted a new European standard EN 81-41 for Vertical Platform Lifts intended for use by persons with impaired mobility.

Platform Lifts that are designed, manufactured and supplied must comply with all the relevant essential Health & Safety requirements of the Machinery Directive (98/37/EC) and the new amended forthcoming Machinery directive 2006/42/EC.

The European safety Standard EN81-41 was accepted by the CEN member states by formal vote on 6th January 2009. The new European standard EN81/41 will give presumption of conformity to both the present and to the new amended forthcoming Machinery Directive.

The New EN standard EN81-41 will make it easier for Authorities, Architects and Planners to understand and for the European Bodies to assess the safety requirements for Vertical Platform Lifts.

The new standards EN81-41 will improve and raise the safety requirements for the European Platform Lifts for the benefit of the users.

Read more about European Standards EN81-1 and EN81-2.

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