Safety Features for Wheelchair Lifts

Every wheelchair lift comes with built in safety features; however, not all features are the same. While some lifts come stacked with every safety feature you could think of, others come with only the bare minimum. In order to find out whether a lift is safe enough for you and your home, pay attention to these crucial safety features. The following should be featured on all wheelchair lifts.

Contact Us for a Quote Today:
888-227-3858

Battery Backup – Wheelchair lifts are powered by electricity: Simply plug it into a power outlet and the lift will grumble to life. Now, image that you or a loved one is using the chair and suddenly the power goes out. This can be very dangerous for disabled persons, because a power outage could leave them stuck on the lift. This is why it is so important to have a battery backup. Battery backups allow the wheelchair lift to continue operating even after a power outage has occurred. The batter backup will enable the person using the lift to get safely to his or her destination. Purchasing a wheelchair lift without a backup is risky, but if your heart is set on a lift without one, make sure you connect a battery backup as soon as possible.

Emergency Communication – In the event a rider does become trapped in a wheelchair lift, it is crucial that he or she can initiate emergency response. Make sure that the wheelchair lift you are interested in features emergency communication. Emergency communication comes in all varieties; it can be as simple as an alarm that alerts those nearby of an incident or it can be a telephone that can be used to dial 911. As long as there is some type of emergency communication readily accessible to the rider, then the wheelchair lift gets a gold star in this safety category.

Alarm for Obstructions – There is always the chance that something or someone could fall into the path of the wheelchair lift. This could be incredibly dangerous simply because obstructing objects could harm both the wheelchair lift as well as the person riding it. All wheelchair lifts should come equipped with a track sensor and alarm system. When something or someone steps into the path of the lift, the lift should sound an alarm and come to a stop. This will alert the person under the lift to move or alert the person riding the lift that something underneath the lift is impeding its path. If an inanimate object is obstructing the path the person riding the lift should use the emergency call system for assistance.

On the Platform – Aside from emergency communication, alarms and battery backups, there are also a number of platform safety features that should be included in every lift. Look for anti-skid platforms, automatic emergency lights, side guard panels, and emergency on/off switches.