Recently, a series of articles about elevator incidents such as: electrical problems of elevators or apartment lifts continuously falling freely ... So what causes elevators to be unsafe like these still exists, while the level of danger to the user is well known.
One of the reasons many lifts fail is due to users not using it properly. In addition, the inspection and acceptance stage also has many problems, said Mr. Le Van Thinh, Head of Inspection Department 1, Department of State Inspection of Construction Quality, Ministry of Construction said.
Who checks the quality of the elevator?
The quality of a construction work includes many factors: the quality of the bearing part of the house, including: foundation, bearing columns, bearing walls, ... these factors will determine the stability of the building if it have subsidence, settlement, inclination or not? The ceiling should also be flat, especially not to let the plaques fall, as some media reports have recently reported.
Quality of equipment in the house such as doors system, electricity and water network, elevator…. Whether the quality of equipment is good or not will depend firstly on the quality of the equipment itself, but also on the quality of the equipment installation. There are cases where the equipment is good but it is not safe to install it carelessly.
As for elevators, Pham Sy Liem, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Construction Association, said that this is a very important device because it is used to withstand large numbers of adults and high frequency. Around the world, elevators have also fallen in many countries, especially in universities. According to the process, in some countries, there is a department of the government that regularly checks the quality of the elevator. After the elevator is installed, it must be confirmed by this professional force before putting into use.
“However, in Vietnam, as far as I can see, there is no agency that has checked the quality of elevators. Even some elevators have been installed for nearly ten years, but they are not sure to have been checked ”, Mr. Liem stressed. If for the fire prevention and fighting (PCCC), the firefighting police will come to check if the equipment is enough, periodically check whether these bottles are still working, as for elevators there have not been a quality control deparment.
For a long time, in Vietnam, people have not paid attention to elevator safety because they think that they are just installed, but over a period of time, the rope will also loose, other equipment may also be damaged. And then, very dangerous to the user. According to Mr. Liem, the Ministry of Construction is the State management agency, not the technical management agency. But the State management agency must issue a regulation on the inspection agency. For real estate projects, the Ministry of Construction must quickly issue a circular, then add a decree on the safety inspection of elevators before they go into use.
Technically, the Ministry of Construction has issued a full set of technical standards, but how to check, who checks, if found shortcomings, whoever handles it, not yet. specifies specific responsibility. “The checking is not really close. The Ministry of Construction must be clear, no general responsibility is specified. Elevator incidents that have occurred in the past time are alarm bells for us to pay more attention to the quality of the apartment building projects ”, emphasized Mr. Liem. Broken elevator, fault due to ... user!
Regarding the current quality of elevators, Mr. Le Van Thinh, Head of Inspection Department 1, State Inspection Department for the quality of construction works, Ministry of Construction said that one of the reasons causing many elevators to fail Failure is caused by misuse of the user. According to construction law, an elevator is a construction device. This equipment must be carefully inspected before being put into the construction works. If the equipment is imported, a certificate of origin (CO) and a quality certificate (CQ) is required, to ensure that the manufacturer has produced according to the order, the standards, and the specifications. .
When buying equipment, the investor, if not confident, will have to hire an independent consultant to inspect before importing it to Vietnam. It should be noted that the current port inspection is actually a clearance inspection, not a quality inspection. Customs clearance inspection means checking whether the goods are in full original condition, how many pieces are, whether the quality is new or old. The conclusion of those 3 indicators does not say the quality of the product.
Therefore, there must be a professional organization to see if the quality is guaranteed. Currently, this job is being assigned to safety and quality inspection centers. These centers will check from equipment to installation. After the installation is complete, we will test without load, test with load, test the safety to test, then conclude whether it is safe or not.
Currently, most apartments, investors hire inspecting center to inspect elevator. But the problem is, the newly installed elevator can guarantee the quality, but if users do not use it correctly, it will be very easy to damage.
In fact, elevators in buildings are often stuck with an occupational safety quality certificate before they are put into use. “I have seen in many places, people bring their children to the elevator to eat, and then press the button to run up and down continuously to make a trick to comfort the child, no elevator can bear. Therefore, some apartments have to hire people to supervise just to press up and down, because they are afraid that people will break the elevator, ”said Mr. Thinh.
Regarding the state management role of the Ministry of Construction, Mr. Thinh said that the Ministry of Construction only issued documents regulating the relationship, but could not examine each elevator in detail. These documents are very clear and strict regulations on safety standards such as bearing safety, fire safety, ...
"As I say, the main problem and weak still lies in the "people "stage. Apart from the user, there are also problems in checking and acceptance. Who tests, how well performers and how the results of acceptance are also questions that need to be answered ”, Mr. Thinh emphasized.
(According to Kiemdinh JSC)
