Regulations in plain language

Lift Legislation

This translation is for reference only. Only the Ukrainian texts of the legal acts are legally binding.

What each document requires, who it binds and where building owners most often trip up. No retelling of articles - just the practical side.

32regulatory documents
5sections

Why this section exists

People regularly call us with the same questions: does a lift have to be replaced after twenty-five years, who is responsible for it in a homeowners' association, can our own electrician maintain it. The answers are in the regulations, but they are written in a language nobody speaks and scattered across dozens of documents from different government bodies.

Here we have gathered the regulations that genuinely apply to lifts, escalators and platform lifts, and explained each one in our own words: what it governs, who it binds and what it means for the building owner. Separately, we point out where clients most often go wrong, because those are the places that later cost money and missed deadlines.

Lifts: placing on the market and operation

A lift in a residential building or a hospital is high-risk equipment, and it is the owner who is responsible for it, not the installers who once put it in. The questions that heads of homeowners' associations and engineers from capital construction departments bring to us almost always come down to two. How to make sure a new lift can be lawfully put into operation. And what to do afterwards, for years, so that it is not shut down.

The answers lie in different documents, and confusing them is the most common mistake in tender specifications. The Technical Regulation approved by CMU Resolution No. 438 deals with placing new equipment on the market: who is responsible for what, how conformity is demonstrated, and what must appear in the marking and documents. NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08 covers the lift's subsequent life: installation, operation, repair, reconstruction, modernization. One document ends where the other only begins.

Next come the standards that both the Regulation and the Rules rely on. DSTU texts are paid, published and sold by SE UkrNDNC, so we do not publish full texts: we explain what each one is for and at what stage it comes up. Pay particular attention to EN 81-21: in an old building with a tight shaft, that is where the conversation about whether the project is possible at all begins.

CMU Resolution No. 438

Technical Regulation on Lifts: what it takes for a new lift to be placed on the market

The Regulation has been in force since 5 January 2018 and is based on Directive 2014/33/EU. It applies to new lifts and safety components placed on the market after that date. It sets out who in the supply chain is responsible for what, which conformity assessment procedure the equipment goes through, and what marking and documents accompany it. For the client the conclusion is simple: together with the car, you accept a package of conformity documents. No documents, no grounds for signing the acceptance certificate.

Who needs it: Clients for new construction, homeowners' associations and hospitals replacing an old lift with a new one, tender committees at the stage of drafting the technical specification.

A new lift replacing an old one is equipment being placed on the market for the first time, and the question of conformity arises in full. A major overhaul after which the same lift remains in the shaft is a different situation. If placing-on-the-market requirements are mechanically copied into a repair specification, nobody can then fulfil them: a component supplier will not certify conformity for someone else's lift.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08

Rules for the Construction and Safe Operation of Lifts: a lift's life after installation

Approved by Order No. 190 of Derzhhirpromnahliad (State Committee of Ukraine for Industrial Safety, Labour Protection and Mining Supervision) of 01.09.2008, registered with the Ministry of Justice on 07.10.2008 under No. 937/15628, in force since 18.10.2008; as at the time of checking, the document is in force. They cover the manufacture, installation, operation, repair, reconstruction and modernization of lifts and hoists: electric and hydraulic lifts, construction hoists, dumbwaiters (service lifts) and multi-car passenger lifts. This is the equipment's entire life after it has been delivered to site: the Regulation ends at placing on the market, while the Rules carry on from there.

Who needs it: Everyone already operating a lift: homeowners' associations, building managers, balance-sheet holders, hospitals, schools, municipal enterprises.

The most common mistake is to think that once the maintenance contract is signed, responsibility has moved over to the contractor. The contract transfers the work to the contractor, not the status of owner. When an inspection comes, the conversation starts with the owner, and it is the owner who then shows whom they hired and what that contractor did.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

DSTU EN 81-20

Safety of construction and installation of passenger and goods lifts

The core standard for the design and installation of new passenger and goods lifts: it sets the safety requirements for the lift itself and for its installation in the building. Manufacturers refer to it in their equipment documents, and designers work from it when calculating the shaft and the loads on the structure. The text is paid and published by SE UkrNDNC, so we do not restate specific requirements here: the designer takes them from the original source.

Who needs it: Designers, clients for new construction, tender committees, technical supervision.

Out of habit, tender specifications still contain the wording "in accordance with EN 81-1/81-2", a designation from the previous series. Before publishing a tender, check the designation and the year of the edition in the SE UkrNDNC catalogue. Otherwise bidders will price their offers against different editions, and it will be impossible to compare them with each other.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU EN 81-21

A new lift in an old building: when the shaft is smaller than the standard requires

The core standard is written for new construction, where the shaft is built to the required size. In old residential buildings, hospitals and schools, the pit or the space above the top landing is often smaller, and there is physically no room to rebuild the shaft. This standard is about exactly these cases: it describes an approach in which a new lift is installed in an existing tight shaft by means of additional protective measures and restrictions, so as not to put those who maintain the lift at risk.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations and managers of old buildings, hospitals, educational institutions - anyone replacing a lift in an existing shaft.

This is the standard that rescues a project after the verdict "the shaft doesn't comply". But solutions based on it have to be built into the design and the tender specification from the start. If the client has not provided for this, a standard specification will bring a lift that simply will not fit the shaft, and the tender will have to be rerun, with the timeline starting over.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU EN 13015

Maintenance of lifts and escalators: what the contract should contain

A standard on the maintenance of equipment that is already installed, lifts and escalators: how the work programme is drawn up, what instructions the installers hand over to the owner, and how completed work is documented. In practice it is the framework for a contract with a maintenance company. Without that framework, maintenance easily boils down to a signature in the logbook once a month and call-outs to a stuck car. Two very different services for roughly the same price.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations, building managers, balance-sheet holders - when choosing a maintenance company and agreeing the contract.

Compare the list of work in the contractor's proposal with the manufacturer's instructions for your specific lift model. If the contract is not tied to a specific work programme, you are buying call-out response. The difference does not show straight away: it becomes visible in the condition of the equipment a few years later, when changing contractors is already expensive.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU 7309, DSTU 7310

Lift installation and acceptance into operation

A pair of national standards covering the installation stage and acceptance: how work on site is organized and what is checked before start-up. For the client, this is the part against which the contractor's work is accepted. The texts are paid; the details are in the standards themselves. The practical side is simple: a lift that is already running does not mean the work is closed out until acceptance has been formalized and the documents collected.

Who needs it: Clients for construction and major overhauls, technical supervision, acceptance committees, and the accounts department waiting for the work to be closed out.

Delays at this stage are almost never technical - they are about paperwork. The passport, the as-built documentation and the test results are compiled in parallel with the installation, not after it. The list of what the contractor hands over on completion is best written into the contract while the client still has leverage.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU 8863, DSTU 9064

Two more national standards in the lift series

These designations regularly appear in lists of regulatory documents in designs and tender specifications alongside the EN series. The texts are paid and published by SE UkrNDNC. What a particular edition actually requires can only be seen in the standard itself, so we will not retell its content second-hand. If a standard from this pair is mentioned in your design, the quickest route is to ask the designer to explain exactly which requirement they are taking from it.

Who needs it: Tender committees and designers compiling the list of regulatory documents for a procurement.

Before entering a standard's designation in the tender documentation, check the year of the edition in the UkrNDNC catalogue. A number copied from an old technical specification is a typical source of findings during procurement monitoring and grounds for complaints from bidders.

Full text - standards catalogue →

OMD 33497324.005-2014

Expert examination of a lift that has reached the end of its designated service life

When a lift has reached the end of the service life designated by the manufacturer, whether it can keep running is not decided by eye: a specialized organization carries out an expert inspection, and this methodology sets out how the examination is conducted and how the report is drawn up. The results show whether the lift can continue to operate, on what conditions, and what has to be done for that, from repairing individual components to modernization or replacement.

Who needs it: Owners of lifts with many years of service behind them: homeowners' associations, municipal enterprises, hospitals, educational institutions.

The examination report is not a box-ticking exercise but the input data for the cost estimate and for a funding application. It often turns out cheaper to replace the lift once than to extend its service life and keep buying components that hardly anyone makes any more. Both options are worth costing before you go looking for money.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

Escalators and moving walks

An escalator is rarely found in a residential building: it is equipment for hospitals, railway stations, pedestrian underpasses, retail and administrative buildings. Most often the client inherits it along with the building: someone installed it at some point, and the passport and diagrams have to be dug out of the archive. The regulatory base here is noticeably thinner than for lifts.

There are essentially two core documents, and they come from different eras. DSTU EN 115-1 is a national standard adopting the European safety requirements for the construction of the machine. NPAOP 0.00-1.06-77 is a set of rules on construction and operation whose designation points back to 1977. Almost half a century lies between them: different logic, different terminology, different ideas about what needs to be checked at all. The designer and the operating organization have to stitch them together by hand - there is no official bridge between the documents.

Another typical trap is looking for answers in lift documents. The Technical Regulation approved by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 438 of 21 June 2017 covers lifts and safety components for them, that is, new equipment being placed on the market. The NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08 Rules deal with lifts, construction hoists and their components. Escalators are not on these lists, and that is not an oversight: they have their own set of documents.

DSTU EN 115-1

Safety requirements for escalators and moving walks

This is the main technical reference point when an escalator or moving walk is installed for the first time or an old one is replaced. The standard sets the safety requirements for the machine itself: manufacturers design their equipment and prepare the accompanying documents to it. For the client the conclusion is practical: if the technical specification refers to the standard, the proof must be the manufacturer's documentation, not a sales manager's verbal assurances during negotiations. We will not retell the content in detail - the standard is paid.

Who needs it: Designers, clients buying new equipment or replacing old equipment, tender committees writing the technical specification.

We do not publish the full text: DSTU standards are paid national standards, published and sold by SE UkrNDNC. The number after the hyphen is the part number, so state in your documentation exactly which part you are referring to. Otherwise a dispute with the supplier about the scope of requirements will arise after delivery, when it is too late to negotiate.

Full text - standards catalogue →

NPAOP 0.00-1.06-77

Construction and operation of escalators: rules inherited from 1977

The document views an escalator as an object of day-to-day supervision rather than as a product being placed on the market. It deals with the organizational side: who in the operating organization is responsible for the machine, which personnel are allowed to maintain it, and what technical documentation is kept throughout its service life. For the building owner, this means that simply buying equipment in good working order is not enough: you need designated people and paperwork confirming the supervision. It was written for the equipment of its time, and it shows.

Who needs it: Balance-sheet holders of buildings with escalators, chief engineers, facilities management departments of hospitals, railway stations, retail and administrative facilities.

The most common confusion: the lift rules NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08 do not apply to escalators - their subject is lifts, construction hoists, dumbwaiters (service lifts) and multi-car passenger hoists. Looking for escalator requirements there is pointless. And do not expect to find requirements for variable frequency drives or modern control electronics in a document of that age: those matters are covered by the standard and the manufacturer's documentation.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

Platform lifts and accessibility

Money for accessibility can be found these days: accessibility programmes, subventions, a separate line in major overhaul budgets. The stumbling block is not money. The tender documentation says "lift for persons with disabilities", while the site needs a vertical platform lift. Or a stair lift is bought for a place it physically cannot get through. After the bids are opened, this is almost impossible to undo: the subject of the procurement has already been defined, and correcting it takes a new procedure.

Three different machines. A lift is a car in a shaft: you step in, press a floor and go. A vertical platform lift also goes up, but slowly, over a small height, and most often the button has to be held down for the entire travel. A stair lift has no shaft of its own at all: a rail runs along the existing flight of stairs, and a seat or a wheelchair platform travels along it. Different designs mean different standards and different cost estimates.

One more thing: the machine itself often turns out to be the smaller part of the cost. The pit, the area in front of it, the enclosure, a separate power supply, sometimes strengthening of the floor slab; with an external (add-on) shaft, a foundation and glazing are added. The DBN answers the question of where the accessible route must lead and what the architecture must be like; the standards on platform lifts and lifts say what the machine itself must be like. Neither works without the other. DSTU texts are paid, published and sold by SE UkrNDNC, so below is only the essence.

DSTU ISO 9386-1

Vertical platform lifts

On vertical platform lifts for people with reduced mobility: the safety of the device, its dimensions, and how it must behave while moving. This is the right place to look when a change in level has to be overcome - an entrance porch, a half-floor, the stage in an assembly hall - and there is nowhere to put a full-size lift or no point in doing so. A platform lift travels slowly and not very high, often without an enclosed car. The enclosure, the pit or an access ramp, and a separate power supply are designed together with the platform itself; otherwise they drop out of the cost estimate.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations with steps at the entrance, hospitals and schools with level differences inside, designers laying out the accessible route.

The tender says "lift for people with reduced mobility", while the description actually amounts to a platform lift - and vice versa. A platform lift has a low handling capacity, so where there is a constant flow of people through the entrance, it will become a bottleneck. The pit is a separate story: if there is none and nowhere to cut one, an access ramp is needed, and it eats up floor space in front of the platform that a cramped lobby may simply not have.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU ISO 9386-2

Stair lifts

The second part of the same standard covers inclined lifts that travel along a flight of stairs. Some have a seat, some a wheelchair platform. The rail is fixed to the wall or on its own posts, no shaft is needed, and building work is minimal. This is the option for cases where the entrance cannot be rebuilt: a historic building, a narrow stairwell, no room for either a shaft or a pit.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations in old housing stock, institutions in listed heritage buildings, private houses where the stairs cannot be redesigned.

Most often everything comes down to the fire safety requirements for the width of the escape route: a stair lift narrows the flight even when folded. This question should be settled with the designer before the tender is announced, not after installation. Another point: one unit serves its own section of stairs, while a lift over several floors with turning landings is a different design and different money. And the user has to get on and control the travel independently, which does not suit everyone.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DBN V.2.2-40:2018

Inclusiveness of buildings and structures

The building code on the accessibility of a building as a whole: a continuous route from the site boundary to the entrance and on to the rooms a person is going to, the entrances themselves, circulation routes inside, and the places where vertical movement is unavoidable. Designers and the expert review of the design rely on this document when assessing the accessibility of a facility. The main idea for the client is simple: accessibility is a route, not a set of separate devices, and there must be no breaks in it.

Who needs it: Clients for new construction and reconstruction, homeowners' associations carrying out a major overhaul of the entrance, publicly funded institutions reporting on accessibility.

The classic case is spot accessibility: a platform lift is installed by the porch, but inside there are still three steps up to the reception desk. Money spent, route broken. The second problem is that equipment is selected at the end of the design process, and the machine has to be squeezed into fixed dimensions; the manufacturer does not always have a model for that opening and that travel height. It is better to name the type of device at the same time as the entrance plan is drawn.

Full text - Minregion →

DSTU EN 81-70

A lift that a person with a disability can use

Where vertical movement is provided by a lift, this standard describes what makes the car suitable for a passenger with a disability: layout and dimensions, the location and marking of the controls, tactile and audible cues, and door behaviour. It supplements the general lift safety requirements rather than replacing them, so in a specification for a new lift it is listed on a separate line alongside the core specification.

Who needs it: Clients for new lifts and modernization in public buildings; homeowners' associations that need a wheelchair or a pushchair to fit into the car.

In old housing stock this is the sorest point. The existing shaft often simply does not allow a wider car, and the choice narrows to two options: enlarge the shaft or openly admit that full compliance will not be achieved. This has to be established by a site survey before the tender, not when the equipment is already on site. One more thing: the standard is written for lifts, so demanding it of a vertical platform lift is demanding it of the wrong machine.

Full text - standards catalogue →

Building codes with requirements for lifts

The question "what are the requirements for the lift in our building" almost never has an answer in the lift regulations themselves. How many lifts, what the car is for, whether a firefighters lift is needed, where the shaft will go - all this is set by the building code for the specific type of building. A hospital, a school, a hotel and a nine-storey block of flats require different things, even though the equipment looks the same.

These codes answer the question "what to design". Alongside them, two documents of a different nature apply: the Technical Regulation on Lifts and Safety Components for Lifts, approved by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 438 of 21 June 2017 and in force since 5 January 2018, which deals with placing new equipment on the market; and NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08, approved by Derzhhirpromnahliad Order No. 190 of 01.09.2008, which deals with operation and maintenance. Confusing these stages is a typical client mistake.

A separate word on reconstruction. Existing buildings were designed to the codes of their time, and bringing them literally up to today's requirements is not always possible - the shaft is what it is. This is a genuine conflict, and it is resolved by a design solution, not by silence in the tender documentation. We do not publish the full texts of DBN and DSTU: the standards are published and sold by SE UkrNDNC, and the codes exist in amended editions, so always check against the current one.

DBN V.2.2-15

Residential buildings: when a lift is required and how it is provided for in the design

This code is where the conversation about a lift in a residential building begins: under what conditions it is required, how many units the design provides for, and how residents who cannot manage the stairs on their own are taken into account. For homeowners' associations the topic comes up mainly during reconstruction, adding a storey or building an extension - at that point the building is measured against today's standards, not those of the time when it was built.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations, building managers, housing developers, designers

Replacing a lift in an existing building does not turn the building into a new facility, but a shaft built to the old rules does not always accommodate modern car dimensions. This has to be established before the tender is announced, not after the contract is signed.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-9

Public buildings: the basic framework for everything that is not housing

The general framework for administrative, office, retail and cultural buildings - those for which there is no narrower dedicated code. This is where the approaches to the accessibility of floors, the arrangement of vertical transport and the way the shaft coexists with escape routes come from. It is also useful when a building combines several functions at once and no single dedicated document covers it fully.

Who needs it: Balance-sheet holders of administrative buildings, tender committees, designers

When there is a separate DBN for your type of facility - a hospital, a school, a hotel - the designer relies primarily on it. Which code takes precedence in a disputed case is decided not by the client in the tender documentation but by the author of the design.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-10

Hospitals: the lift as part of the medical process

In a hospital the lift carries not a passenger but a patient - on a trolley, accompanied, sometimes with medical equipment. So the dedicated code looks beyond car dimensions: how to separate the flows of patients, staff, clean materials and waste, how to provide access to the operating theatre suite and intensive care, and how critical equipment downtime is. It makes sense for the capital construction department engineer to write the technical specification after these questions have been settled in the design, not in parallel with it.

Who needs it: Hospital capital construction engineers, chief physicians, tender committees

The most common mistake in healthcare facility tenders: the documentation says "passenger lift", while the facility needs a bed lift. That means a different car, different doors and different money, so it ends up being corrected at the delivery stage.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-41

High-rise buildings: the lift becomes part of the safety system

High-rise buildings have a separate code: at great heights, evacuation by stairs alone stops working. Here the lift part is no longer a separate section of the design: it is integrated with the building's fire protection, electrical and building services solutions into a single whole. The question of firefighters lifts and refuge areas arises precisely at this level.

Who needs it: Clients and designers of high-rise construction, facilities management services

Lift solutions in a high-rise are agreed at the very start of design, together with the fire safety section. Finishing them off at the end means redoing the shafts and the electrics.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-3

Schools: so that a pupil in a wheelchair can get to where the lesson is

In educational facilities inclusion comes to the fore: a pupil in a wheelchair must be able to reach the floors and rooms where teaching takes place. Depending on the building, this is solved with a lift or a platform lift - the choice is made in the design, not in the cost estimate. Another feature of a school: the building is full of children, so access to the equipment by outsiders has to be restricted more strictly than in a residential building.

Who needs it: Education departments, head teachers, clients for the reconstruction of school buildings

In schools, equipment suffers less from wear than from children's curiosity. Vandal-resistant design and key-operated controls are not a supplier's whim.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-4

Kindergartens: more often a platform lift than a lift

Preschools are mostly low-rise, so the question is not "how many lifts" but "how to ensure accessibility". Most often the answer is a platform lift for a child in a wheelchair or for parents who cannot manage the stairs. The kitchen block is a separate topic: food and dishes should be moved between floors by a dumbwaiter (service lift), which is not used to carry people.

Who needs it: Education departments, heads of preschool institutions, clients for major overhauls of kindergartens

A platform lift is lifting equipment too. It is maintained and documented, not installed and forgotten until the first inspection.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-20

Hotels: guests separate, linen and staff separate

A hotel has two different flows, and the code for this type of building is based precisely on that separation. Guests move between rooms and public areas; service staff transport linen, food, luggage and cleaning supplies. On top of that come the accessibility of rooms for guests with disabilities and coordination with the evacuation arrangements. How many lifts are needed and for what purpose depends on the capacity and category of the establishment - this is calculated in the design, not at the "one should be enough, I think" stage.

Who needs it: Hotel owners and investors, designers, managers

Separating guest and service flows is cheap only on paper, before construction starts. Adding a second lift to a finished hotel means full-scale building work with some of the rooms taken out of use.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.2-18

Residential care homes and social care facilities: equipment without which the ward cannot function

Residential care homes, facilities for older people and rehabilitation centres have residents who do not use stairs at all. The code takes this into account both in everyday operation and in emergencies: car dimensions for a bed or a wheelchair with an attendant, accessible routes, places where a person can wait for assistance. Accessibility here is not a line in the acceptance certificate but the condition for the facility to perform its function at all.

Who needs it: Heads of social care facilities, social protection departments, clients for repairs

When the lift stops in such a facility, the work of the ward stops with it. That is why service response times and the availability of spare parts should be written into the technical specification from the outset, not sorted out over the phone at the moment of a breakdown.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.3-15

Car parks: a passenger lift and a car lift are different things

A multi-storey or underground car park poses two different tasks. The first is to take a person from the parking level up to the residential or public part of the building. The second, where needed, is to move the car itself between levels. A separate set of issues concerns making sure that the shaft and its approaches do not become a channel through which smoke and fire spread upwards from the car park.

Who needs it: Developers with underground car parks, facilities management services, designers

A car lift and a passenger lift are different equipment, with different dimensions and very different costs. They are regularly confused in car park specifications, and this only comes to light at the cost estimate stage.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.5-56

Fire automation: what must happen to the lift when the alarm goes off

For a building owner, the code on fire protection systems matters for one reason: the lift does not exist separately from the fire alarm. On an alarm signal, an ordinary car must be taken out of service in a controlled way and let people out, rather than remain available for calls. Firefighters lifts have a separate mode used by the rescue services. The practical side of the issue is the cable, the configuration, and whose area of responsibility it is.

Who needs it: Construction clients, facilities management services, safety systems designers

A classic at acceptance: the lift works, the alarm works, but there is no link between them - nobody provided for the cable or agreed whose scope of work it was. Put the interface between contractors in writing before installation begins.

Full text - Minregion →

DBN V.2.5-23

Electrics for a lift: power supply, protection, earthing

A lift is first and foremost an electrical load, and how it is supplied is set by the code on electrical installations in civil buildings: reliability of supply, a dedicated line, protective devices, earthing, and lighting of the shaft and machine room. For buildings with firefighters lifts, a supply from a standby source is added, so that the equipment keeps working when the main supply is gone.

Who needs it: Electrical designers, chief engineers, modernization clients

During modernization, the old wiring often cannot handle a controller with a variable frequency drive: a different cable and different protection are needed. The electrics are calculated before the equipment is purchased; otherwise the problem surfaces at commissioning, when the lift is already in the shaft.

Full text - Minregion →

DSTU-N B V.2.2-38

Guideline on firefighters lifts: it answers "how", not "whether one is needed"

The guideline on the arrangement of firefighters lifts answers the question "how", not "whether one is needed". It deals with technical implementation: a protected shaft, the space in front of the lift, power supply and control, and interfacing with the building's other systems. It is a companion document to the requirements that the DBN sets for a specific type of building, and it is read once the decision has already been made.

Who needs it: Designers, clients for high-rise and public buildings

Look for the grounds for a firefighters lift in the code for your type of building, not here. We do not provide the text of the guideline itself - standards are published and sold by SE UkrNDNC.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU EN 81-72

Firefighters lifts: how they differ from ordinary lifts

A standard of European origin on lifts used by the rescue services during a fire. It sets out how such a lift differs from an ordinary one: protection of the shaft and its approach, power supply, communication with the car, water resistance of the equipment, a separate control mode, and the means of getting out of the car. The requirements apply not only to the machine but also to the building works around it.

Who needs it: Designers, developers of high-rise buildings, facilities management services

A firefighters lift is not an ordinary lift with a sign on it. A different shaft, a different power supply, different building works - so the decision is made at the design stage, not when the equipment is purchased.

Full text - standards catalogue →

DSTU EN 81-73

Behaviour of an ordinary lift in the event of fire

On what must happen to an ordinary lift when the building receives a fire alarm signal: the car travels to a predetermined floor, lets people out and stops answering calls. The logic is simple - in a fire a lift becomes a trap, so it is taken out of service in a controlled way. The standard is paid, so we do not go into the details of the mode here: the designer works with them.

Who needs it: Clients for new lifts and modernizations, facilities management services

The most common confusion in this group: 81-73 does not make a lift a firefighters lift. By ordering the "fire hazard mode" option, you have not met the firefighters lift requirement, if your building is subject to one.

Full text - standards catalogue →

Labour protection and equipment operation

A lift in a residential building or a hospital is not a household appliance. The state puts it in the same category as cranes and pressure vessels: high-risk equipment. The consequence is simple. You cannot operate a lift "just like that": you need trained people, a contract with an organization entitled to carry out such work, and papers confirming both.

The acts in this group are related. The Technical Regulation on Lifts, approved by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 438 of 21 June 2017, applies to new equipment being placed on the market. NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08 covers how the lift lives on afterwards: installation, operation, repair, modernization. Gathered here is what applies in parallel with both: authorization of the contractor for the work, staff training, and the building's electrical facilities.

The most common mistake made by the head of a homeowners' association is to think that once the contract is signed, all obligations have passed to the contractor. Some really have: inspections, repairs, the qualifications of the lift mechanics. But the owner remains the owner. The owner is still responsible for the decision to shut down the lift, money for repairs, keeping the documentation, appointing the responsible person and controlling access to the machine room. And electrics are a separate matter: this is exactly where people trip up during inspections - the car runs, but there are no wiring diagrams or measurement reports.

List of High-Risk Equipment

Why a lift is high-risk equipment and what that changes for the owner

The state keeps a separate list of equipment whose handling it controls more strictly than usual: lifts, escalators and platform lifts are on it. For the owner, this means you cannot just hire anyone "off the street" to do the work. The authorization of a contractor for such work and the qualifications of its staff are governed by a separate procedure, which has been revised more than once in recent years. So before signing a contract, look not at the wording in the quotation but at the documents themselves - and at their date of issue.

Who needs it: Homeowners' associations, building managers, tender committees - when choosing a contractor

In tender documentation, the requirement for the contractor is often worded in general terms, and then it is hard to reject a bidder who lacks what is needed. Ask for copies of the documents and check whether they cover your specific type of work: installation, maintenance and modernization are separate items, and having one does not mean having another.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

NPAOP 0.00-4.12-05

Labour protection training: who must be trained and how it is confirmed

Those who maintain a lift and those who manage such work undergo labour protection training and a knowledge test before a commission. This applies not only to lift mechanics but also to officials: the head of the homeowners' association, the head of the institution, and the employee appointed as responsible for keeping the equipment in good working order. The proof is the commission's minutes and a certificate. Training is not a one-off; it is repeated, and the frequency depends on the position and the nature of the work, so check the deadline on the certificate itself.

Who needs it: Heads of homeowners' associations, chief engineers of hospitals and schools, persons responsible for electrical facilities

A typical picture: the contractor's certificates are in order, but nobody has been appointed on the client's side. Yet the first question asked is about the building owner's responsible person. That person is appointed by order and is also trained - otherwise, formally, nobody on the owner's side is looking after the lift.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

PTEES

The lift's electrics are also the owner's responsibility

The lift is powered from the building's mains, so the incoming supply unit, cable lines, earthing, and lighting of the shaft and machine room come into view along with it. The Rules for the Technical Operation of Consumer Electrical Installations describe how the owner maintains these facilities: a responsible person, diagrams, logbooks, inspections, measurements. The lift may be in perfect technical order, but if the electrical facilities are run carelessly, the questions are addressed to the owner, not to the service company - unless the contract provides otherwise.

Who needs it: Building owners and balance-sheet holders, chief engineer's departments

The most frequent finding is earthing resistance and insulation resistance test reports that nobody has seen for years. They are requested both during inspections and when the lift is put back into operation after modernization. Ordering them in a rush a week before start-up is the worst scenario of all.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

NPAOP 40.1-1.32-01

Electrical equipment of special installations: a document for the design stage

This is a document for designers and installers, not for whoever operates the lift day to day. It deals with the arrangement of electrical equipment where conditions are special: humidity, increased risk of electric shock, cramped space. The machine room, the shaft and the pit are exactly such places. For the owner it matters at the stage of a major overhaul or modernization: if the electrical part of the design was done without regard to these requirements, what has already been installed will have to be redone - at your own expense and with slipped deadlines.

Who needs it: Clients for modernization and new installations, capital construction departments

When a lift is installed in an external (add-on) shaft, the power supply is often run along the facade or underground. The requirements for routing and protection there differ from those inside the building. This should be built into the design brief straight away, not discovered on site.

Full text - Legislation of Ukraine →

Quick answers

Frequently asked questions

Who is responsible for the lift in an apartment building - the homeowners' association (OSBB), the building manager or the maintenance company?

Responsibility for the condition of the equipment lies with the owner: with the co-owners, represented by the homeowners' association (OSBB), or with the building manager if the building has been handed over to them under a contract. A contract with a maintenance company does not remove this responsibility; it only divides up the work. We are responsible for the technical condition within the scope of the contract; you are responsible for there being a contract at all, for the machine room being locked and dry, and for service requests not lying unanswered for months. The Rules for the Construction and Safe Operation of Lifts also require an employee to be appointed by order as the person responsible for organizing the operation of the lift. This is a specific person with a surname, not a line in the minutes of a co-owners' meeting.

Our lift is 25 years old. Does it have to be replaced?

Not automatically. The figure everyone quotes is the designated service life from the equipment passport, not a death sentence. Once it has run out, the lift may not simply go on operating "by default": an expert inspection is required. Its results determine whether further operation is possible, for what period and on what conditions, usually with a list of mandatory replacements. Sometimes the examination shows that replacing is cheaper than dragging things out. Sometimes the opposite. So the sequence is: first the passport and the examination report, then the co-owners' decision and the cost estimate, not the other way round.

Can we maintain the lift ourselves? We have our own electrician.

No, and the issue is not your electrician's qualifications. The Rules for the Construction and Safe Operation of Lifts are built so that installation, repair, reconstruction, modernization and maintenance are carried out by an organization that has the right to do so, the equipment and certified personnel. On your own you can perfectly well keep the machine room, lighting and approaches in order, keep a log of service requests, and make sure nobody props the doors open with a brick or pours water into the shaft after washing the stairs. Everything inside the control cabinet and in the shaft is not your area.

How does modernization differ from replacement in terms of documents?

Replacement means new equipment being placed on the market. This is governed by the Technical Regulation on Lifts and Safety Components for Lifts, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 438 of 21 June 2017: the supplier undergoes conformity assessment, affixes the marking and hands you the declaration and the passport. Modernization is intervention in a lift that is already installed, and it is governed by the operating rules, NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08: a design, work by a specialized organization, testing, entries in the passport. Clients regularly mix up these two routes in tender documentation and then cannot close out the acceptance certificate. Make your choice at the technical specification stage.

Who puts a new lift into operation after installation?

Not the installer signing off its own work. After installation is complete, acceptance tests are carried out, and the lift is put into operation by the owner, with the participation of the installation company, in the manner established by labour protection legislation and with registration at the state supervision authority. Your role as the client is to assemble the full set: the passport, the declaration of conformity for the new equipment, the as-built documentation, the order appointing the responsible persons, and the maintenance contract. The most common delay at this stage is caused not by the equipment but by a single missing document. It is worth checking the set before the certificate of completed works is signed.

What is a specialized organization, and why do we need a contract with one if the lift is new?

It is an organization whose personnel and equipment allow it to carry out work on lifts in accordance with the rules: maintenance, repair, installation, modernization. A contract is needed from the first day of operation, not from the first breakdown. Formally, a lift without maintenance has no right to operate, and this is one of the first questions in any inspection. The manufacturer's warranty does not replace the contract: it covers equipment defects, not the daily inspection, lubrication and testing of safety devices. A new lift needs less work than a worn one, but the contract itself is still mandatory.

We have a platform lift for people with disabilities. Do these requirements apply to it too?

Yes. A platform lift is lifting equipment, not a "gadget on the stairs". The Rules for the Construction and Safe Operation of Lifts cover hoists and their components, so a platform lift needs a passport, a responsible person, maintenance by a specialized organization and proper record-keeping. New equipment placed on the market is subject to the requirements for conformity assessment and marking. A typical mistake: the platform is bought as a separate line item "for accessibility", installed by the builders and left without a contract. A year later it is simply switched off, because there is nobody to maintain it and nobody to answer for it.

The lift has failed its examination. What should we do with it now?

Operation is stopped, and that is not a recommendation. The owner then chooses one of two routes on the basis of the report: rectify the non-conformities found and confirm fitness for use again, or take the lift out of service and plan its replacement or modernization. The decision is documented, with the appropriate records and notification of the maintenance company. The car is de-energized, the landing doors are locked, and notices are put up on the floors. The worst option, which we see regularly, is "let it run for now until the meeting". The owner, not whoever carried out the examination, is responsible for the consequences of operating in this mode.

Where can we get the full text of the DSTU standards for lifts? Only excerpts are available online.

National standards in Ukraine are not free. They are published and distributed by the state enterprise UkrNDNC, Ukraine's national standards body, where you can buy the current edition or order a certificate of its validity status. We do not publish full texts or send out copies: they are not our property. For tender documentation, a correct reference to the standard's designation is usually enough, without copying its content into the technical specification: that way you do not risk quoting an edition that has already been superseded. You can also check through the UkrNDNC catalogue whether a newer version of the standard you referred to has appeared.

The Technical Regulation or NPAOP - which document should we work to?

Most likely both, but at different stages. The Technical Regulation, in force since 5 January 2018 and based on Directive 2014/33/EU, applies to new lifts being placed on the market: who is responsible for conformity, how it is demonstrated, and what must appear in the marking and accompanying documents. NPAOP 0.00-1.02-08, in force since 18 October 2008, covers how the equipment is then installed, operated, repaired and modernized. Buying a new lift? Look at the Regulation. Living with one already installed? Look at the operating rules. Confusing these stages is the most common mistake of all.

One caveat

We are a lift company, not a law firm. Everything written here is how the regulations look from the point of view of an engineer who works with the equipment and its documentation every day. For decisions on which money or liability depends, check the current version of the act via the link and, where necessary, consult a lawyer.

If you have a specific situation with a specific lift, write to us. We will look into the substance: a question that looks legal is often actually resolved by an examination report or a properly drafted technical specification.

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