Vandal-Resistance of Lifts in the UK

Vandalism is not a new phenomenon, and lifts exposed to largely unsupervised public usage are particularly vulnerable to the activities of vandals of all types. Some forms of vandalism might simply cause temporary frustration and inconvenience for lift users and unnecessary expense for lift owners, building managers, etc. Other vandalism may, however, endanger the lives of innocent persons as well as the vandal. Protection against vandalism can begin at the design and planning stage of a lift installation, whilst other safeguards may need to be provided at existing lift installations. This article describes the problems, and illustrates the UK ‘response’.