Escalator Inspections in London

What an escalator inspection covers

Escalators injure people mainly through falls and trapping, so the inspection concentrates on the gaps, the stopping performance and the safety switches, and on the machinery that drives them:

• Steps and step chain: step condition, rollers, step chain and step gaps
• Comb plates: comb teeth, comb plate alignment and the comb plate switch
• Skirt panels: skirt gaps, skirt brushes or deflectors and skirt switches
• Handrails: condition, tension and speed matched to the steps
• Drive machinery: motor, gearbox and main drive chain
• Brakes: main and auxiliary brakes, and stopping distance
• Controller and wiring: control panel, safety circuit and wiring
• Safety switches: missing step, handrail inlet, broken chain, overspeed and unintentional reversal
• Emergency stops: every stop button, and that it stops the escalator as it should
• Landings and balustrades: landing plates, balustrades and anti-climb and anti-slide devices

Comb plates and skirt gaps get particular attention, because that is where shoes and clothing get caught.

Independent of your maintenance contractor

If the company that maintains your escalator also inspects it, it is checking its own work, and any defect it finds is work it can quote for. We sell no maintenance, repairs, parts or modernisation, so a defect on our report is never a sales pitch.

We still work alongside your maintainer, and agree the visit with them so that the escalator is out of service only once.

Workplace Regulations and PUWER, not LOLER

HSE's guidance is that LOLER does not apply to escalators, even though they carry people between levels. Regulation 19 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires them to function safely, with the necessary safety devices and emergency stops. As work equipment they also come under PUWER 1998, which requires inspection by a competent person at suitable intervals. BS EN 115 is the safety standard for their design. No interval is fixed in law, but guidelines drawn up in consultation with HSE recommend a thorough examination normally every six months, on top of routine maintenance.

What you get after the inspection

A written inspection report identifying the escalator, what was checked, any defect with how serious it is and what must be done and by when, and when the next inspection should be. On top of that:

• Same-day report: issued digitally on the day of the inspection, not weeks later
• Photographs: of what was inspected and of any defect, in every report as standard
• Records and reminders: we keep the record on file and remind you before the next one falls due

If anything is not safe to use, you are told in writing before we leave. Because we sell no repairs, a defect on the report is never a quotation in disguise.

Escalator inspections across London

We inspect escalators and moving walkways across London, from the City, Canary Wharf and the West End to the outer boroughs: shopping centres and department stores, office buildings, hospitals, hotels, museums and transport hubs.

Visits are timed around your opening hours, so that escalators are out of service only while the building is closed or quiet.