Local-authority housing developments have topped a list for non-emergency call-outs to release people stuck in lifts in London.
One housing block, Wendover in South East London, saw firefighters attending to rescue people from lifts on 27 occasions in the past 12 months. The fire service has announced today that councils and businesses that persistently make non-emergency lift call-outs will face a GB pound 290 fine from the third incident within a 12-month period.
In the last year, London Fire Brigade attended 6,430 lift rescues, but only 57 of these were said to be emergencies — where there is a genuine medical emergency facing the person or people stuck in the lift. The Brigade still wants to be called to such incidents, but they are attempting to reduce the total amount of lift rescues they have to attend.
The ten worst offenders in the past 12 months have between them seen 167 non-emergency call-outs for lift rescues:
- Wendover, Thurlow Street SE17 – 27
- Hornbeam House, Maitland Park Villas, NW3 – 20
- Earlsdown House, Wheelers Cross, IG11 – 19
- Maydew House, Abbeyfield Road, SE16 – 16
- Bradenham, Boyson Road, Walworth, SE17 – 15
- Hillrise Mansions, Wartlersville Road, N19 – 15
- Eddystone Tower, Oxestall Road, SE8 – 15
- Delafield House, Christian Street, E1 – 14
- Hastings House, Sherborne Avenue, EN3 – 13
- Rothay, Albany Street, NW1 – 13
In November 2009 the annual call-out figure for these types of rescues stood at 13,823 — a reduction of around 7,400 call-outs a year and equivalent to GB pound 2m a year in resources and time saved. They now use a call filtering system on 999 calls in order to allow operators to send calls on to other relevant people who can deal with a non-emergency situation — such as lift engineers.
Earlier this year, London’s mayor and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority authorised the closure of ten fire stations in order to find additional savings of GB pound 28.8m in the next two years. LFEPA chairman James Cleverly has welcomed this latest reduction, but would like to see building owners doing more:
It is encouraging to see a reduction in lift call outs, however, firefighters are still attending 17 lift rescues each day. We hope this tough new charging scheme will send a clear message to building owners that this is not acceptable.
As well as being costly for the fire service, being trapped in a lift can be frightening and uncomfortable which is why we’re calling on building owners to take responsibility and sort their shoddy lifts out.
Firefighters will always attend a call out where it is a real emergency but in many of these cases it should be up to the person in charge of the building whose lift has broken down, to fix the problem.
The Brigade’s ability to reduce non-emergency call-outs will be particularly crucial in the next few years, since firefighter numbers are set to be reduced by 550. It remains to be seen whether financial penalties assist in further reducing lift call-outs.
Related posts:
- Boris Tells Fire Cuts Opponents to ‘Get Stuffed’
- 5 Councils Seek Judicial Review Over London Fire Cuts
2023 Fire Safety eBook – Grab your free copy!
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
