On the Idea of Performance Based Lift Codes

As the economy is becoming more and more globalized, clients are demanding more and more high quality products that are world wide acceptable. However, owing to the existing rigid prescriptive approach, lift codes may not be easily understood or accepted by all countries. We may imagine a trend in the future that the prescriptive codes will gradually be replaced by universal codes with emphasis on general performance rather than the technical details down to accurate figures. Performance-based codes have several advantages, such as clear definition of code objectives, high transparency, high flexibility in overall design to suit different applications, and the employment of analytical methods, data and assumptions formalized in a single code of practice. As a matter of fact, the fire protection codes have been aiming at this approach for years. This paper attempts to examine the possibility of the replacement of the lift code from a rigid to a more flexible approach by adopting the performance-based manner. It is not intended to create anything solid here. The authors merely want to initiate discussions and debates in this direction of development in the elevator industry.