Lifts

A lift can be used for carrying personnel and general goods to facilitate building work provided the lift has been tested and authorised to go into service by Access Canberra.

A lift would be cleared to go into service as a builder's lift if all the items critical to safe functioning of the lift have been completed and accesses to landings required for use have been made safe by provision of handrails and overhead protection where required.

The interior of the car should be lined with plywood or any other soft impact absorbing material to prevent damage to the car while loading materials and the floor of the car is covered with timber planks or with 10mm thick plywood to evenly distribute the load on floor.

The lift must only be operated by a person trained and authorised by the builder or owner of the lift. There is a risk of damage to the lift while site personnel are moving materials by the lift. The lift operator should maintain watch over personnel and materials transported to ensure the lift is not damaged.

A 24 hours emergency telephone line should be provided in the lift car which is serviced by lift installer. If telephone connection cannot be provided because of some genuine reason, then a two way radio or intercom must be provided from the lift car to the site office and a procedure for calling in a lift technician in the case of an emergency put in place. The lift should not be operated when an emergency contact is not available.

A notice must be fixed in the car giving instructions and information in letters and numerals 25mm in size and include the wording:

This lift is for general goods loading only.
Capacity of this lift is XXkg.
Industrial forklift trucks shall not be used for loading this lift.
The weight of any single goods shall not exceed XXkg (1/4 capacity of the lift).
Person authorised to operate this lift - A ticketed man and materials hoist driver can be designated as the person authorised to operate the lift. Alternatively the builder can train a person to work as a lift operator.

For safe operation of the lift it is necessary that the load capacity of the lift must not be exceeded.

For the purpose of estimating approximate load weights examples of some common building materials are:

cement - 1,700kg per cubic meter (generally available in 25kg bags)
standard brick - 4kg each
standard tubular scaffolding - 5.2kg per meter length
timber - 5,400kg per cubic metre
steel - 7,900kg per cubic metre
water - 1,000kg per cubic metre
aggregate 40mm - 1,800kg per cubic metre
sand - 2,200kg per cubic metre.

A standard builder's wheelbarrow has a volume of about 1/10 cubic metres. Therefore a wheelbarrow full of sand will weigh approximately 1/10 of 2,200kg and equal 220kg.