Guidance for verifying lift shaft lifting equipment support structures
LEEA has published an important new document: ‘Guidance to the Verification of Lift Shaft Lifting Equipment Support Structures’.
The guidance has been developed as a means to support the designer, manufacturer, installer, tester and examiner in terms of the correct method of verifying lift shaft lifting equipment support structures. 
It applies to goods lifting, people carrying and fall arrest using a lift shaft beam assembly. 

To facilitate the installation, maintenance and inspection of lifts there will commonly be a supporting structure with attachment points for lifting equipment at the top of a lift shaft. This is generally formed either with steel beams spanning the top of the lift shaft with lifting equipment attachment points, often known as lifting eyes, along the span, or a precast concrete slab or site cast slab using decking, with several options for lifting equipment attachment points.
These structures are commonly used for both goods lifting and people carrying applications. On the odd occasion they are sometimes used for fall arrest applications.
The use of this equipment, together with the varying legislative and standards applicable to each mode of use, has generated much confusion regarding how this equipment should be verified following installation and periodically while in service. LEEA has therefore developed this guidance as a means of setting a benchmark and standard approach to their verification. It draws on LEEA experience of and requirements for other similar forms of lifting equipment support structures, such as crane gantries, hoist runways and jibs. This further reinforces the advantage to end user markets of using LEEA members when procuring lifting equipment services.
The guidance (Document Reference LEEA 076) will be a technical requirement for full LEEA members for audit purposes. It can be downloaded from the members area on the LEEA website.
For further information contact LEEA: mail@leeaint.com or visit www.leeaint.com.
