Definitions

What is a publicly accessible area in the case of small goods lifts or goods lifts?

An area is considered to be publicly accessible whenever the small goods lift or goods lift can be operated or accessed by members of the public who have not received training, customers, members of the public or groups of people with unrestricted access.

This means that the lift is located in an area to which no restricted or controlled group of people (such as authorised specialist staff only) has access.

Important distinctions & safety considerations

As even members of the public (or potentially children – see here for more on this) have access to the lift shafts in such areas, significantly stricter safety requirements apply here.

Typical real-world examples

• Catering & Hospitality: A food lift that runs from the kitchen to the dining area or to a counter/collection point accessible to guests.

• Retail & Pharmacies: A goods lift that connects sales areas frequented by customers (e.g. on the ground floor) with the stockroom in the basement or on an upper floor.

• Public Buildings & Libraries: Goods lifts for transporting files or books in areas freely accessible to library visitors or the general public.

• Residential Estates & Block of Flats: Small goods lifts in corridors or entrance areas that can be freely accessed by all tenants or visitors. 

Definition in accordance with the Machinery Directive: Even though we physically deliver the lift system to you in its entirety, the system is legally classified as an ‘incomplete machine’. This means that we supply you with the complete system, including the declaration of assembly and installation, but do not affix the final CE marking in our name. The system only becomes a ‘complete machine’ in legal terms once you have commissioned it following installation and provided the final declaration of conformity.

Example based on a service lift (EN 81-30): We supply you with the complete lift system, including the car, self-supporting shaft frame, shaft doors, drive, control system and, optionally, the shaft guard. However, following professional installation, you issue the final EC Declaration of Conformity in your own name and affix your own CE type plate to the system.

Your benefits (as a lift manufacturer/customer):

• Own branding (de facto manufacturer): You act as the sole manufacturer in dealings with the end customer and the authorities. The lift is marketed 100 per cent under your company name and brand.

• Customer loyalty: By having your own type plate on the lift, you ensure that the end customer contacts you directly for maintenance, servicing or modernisation.

• Full system integration: You can seamlessly integrate the entire system into the end customer’s building as your own product, whilst relying behind the scenes on our tried-and-tested design and support with the technical documentation.

Definition in accordance with the Machinery Directive: With this option, we not only supply the lift system in its entirety, but also assume the full legal role of the manufacturer. We supply the system with an EC Declaration of Conformity (including CE marking). In this case, you act purely as an installation and sales partner for our product.

Take, for example, a passenger lift (EN 81-30) or a goods lift (EN 81-31): you receive exactly the same complete system package as with the partly completed machine (frame, doors, drive, control system). The difference lies in the paperwork: following installation by your technicians, the system is commissioned under the Bunse-Aufzüge brand and with Bunse-Aufzüge’s EC Declaration of Conformity.

Your benefits (as a lift manufacturer/customer):

• Minimised liability risk: As the official manufacturer, we bear legal responsibility for the machine’s compliance with safety standards in accordance with the applicable regulations.

• No documentation required: You do not need to maintain your own risk assessments or draw up your own declarations of conformity. You simply pass our documents on to the end customer.

• Time-saving: Ideal for projects where having your own label is not a priority and you would instead prefer a quick, legally straightforward and turnkey handover to the end customer.

The parapet height is measured from the top edge of the finished floor to the top edge of the lower door profile (bottom edge of the clear door opening height). Always measured from outside the shaft. This is important because, in accordance with EN 81-30, doors with a minimum parapet height of 700 mm do not require an electromechanical locking system. A purely mechanical locking system is sufficient in this case. 

We always define the shaft head as the distance from the top edge of finished floor at the last landing to the bottom edge of rough ceiling within the shaft. This applies regardless of whether the doors are positioned at floor level or at parapet height. Recessed ceilings or similar reductions in front of the shaft are dimensioned separately.