In Italy 60% of lifts are non-standard, 40% are over 30 years old. Approximately 700 lifts – which carry out almost 100 million rides every day – were installed before 1999, therefore they do not have devices that guarantee the minimum level of safety prescribed by European standards. The data was released yesterday by AssoLifts e Anacam (National association of lift construction and maintenance companies).
By April 19, Italy will have to implement the new European directive on lifts (2014/33/EU), which imposes precisely to adapt the systems in operation since before 1999 to the new safety standards. However, the implementing decree that will arrive in the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks gives the so-called "verifiers", i.e. those who are authorized to verify and certify the conformity of lifts, the faculty to assign certain interventions on the part of the homeowners. It is about what in recent days has been defined as “the new lift tax” and which, according to some estimates by Studio Cataldi, could cost 350 euros a year per family (about double what Tasi cost on average).
"The fleet of lifts in operation in our country is the largest and among the oldest in Europe", write AssoAscensori and Anacam, specifying the most serious deficiencies at a technological level concern the emergency call systems, the door closing systems automatic and the leveling between the floor and the lift car.
“Estimates indicate that it is precisely the older elevator systems that do not comply with the state of the art that cause the greatest number of accidents – continues the note -. Between 2010 and 2015 there were 24 fatal accidents and numerous accidents, including serious ones, which have involved users in the use of what today represents the most used means of transport in the world, with an impact not known to the public but certainly to insurance companies and public institutions”.
According to Roberto Zappa, president of AssoAscensori and vice president of Ela (European Association of Lifts), “it is urgent that the Government does everything to allow the country to align itself with European standards, continuing along the path of modernization without paying attention to useless exploitation. Security is always an investment”.
Michele Mazzarda, president of Anacam, explains instead that the interventions should focus “only on those systems which in recent years have not undergone any maintenance work, to which, in any case, even if only due to wear and tear, they would soon undergo. The provision under discussion has an actuation radius of 4-6 years, so it doesn't impact heavily. Furthermore, the expenses are deductible by virtue of the bonus for redevelopment and building renovations. It is unthinkable that with the new technologies available today an elderly person should trip on the step of the lift and get hurt or that those who remain trapped are not immediately connected to an aid station".
Of a completely different opinion Confidentiality, which underlines how the law already provides for stringent obligations and that the percentage of accidents in the presence of a daily passenger traffic of 30 to 40 million is very low. According to the association, in fact, it is “obvious that security is a mere pretext, because it hides the interests of some categories who intend to make money at the expense of condominiums and home owners".
Giorgio Spaziani Testa, president of Confedilizia, then launched an appeal to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi "to order the elimination from the draft provision of this 'foreign body', with which they would like to impose absolutely unnecessary expenses on homeowners and certainly onerous for the majority of Italian families”.
