The Essential Features of a Hospital Elevator: What to Look For
Hospitals play a crucial role in our lives, but you ever stopped and gave a thought to how vital the role of hospital elevators plays in making the healthcare facility seamless and smooth. Hospital elevators and lifts are definitely a crucial part in healthcare facilities as it helps in transporting the medical staff, patients, and equipment. Elevators play a vital function in hospitals; however, selecting the appropriate elevator is even more critical. So, let’s discuss the crucial features to consider when selecting a hospital lift.
Safety Features
The base of any hospital is its safety features and here, hospital lift plays a crucial role. Therefore, while selecting a lift for the place, it is important to keep some important things in mind. Before finalizing a hospital lift, always look for an emergency communication system like a reliable intercom system. This will allow the staff and patients to communicate through lift incase of any emergency. In addition, there should be a safety sensor in the lift to detect any doorways obstacle. Moreover, automatic rescue devices and fire resistant materials should also be installed in the hospital lift. Automatic rescue devices will help the elevator to return to its designated floor at the time of power failure and fire resistant material will prevent the lift from any fire emergency.
Capacity and Size
The capacity and size of hospital lifts play a crucial role in the comfort and working of the hospital. This is because hospital lifts need to accommodate critical patients, medical tools and equipment safely. This clearly indicates that hospital lifts need to be spacious and stronger than standard lifts. A large lift will allow the hospital staff to handle and carry wheelchairs, stretchers, and other important articles with comfort and ease. As per experts, a hospital should install lifts with a minimum load capacity of around 1500 kg. This will handle the weight of multiple occupants and heavy medical equipment.
Speed and Efficiency
Hospital is a place where every second matters, therefore efficiency and speed are two crucial aspects in a hospital setting. Time is definitely a critical factor and keeping this in mind, hospital management should go for lifts that can operate at a fast speed, keeping safety and smoothness in mind while traveling. There should be no waiting time in between the floors for the patients. So, to cut this issue, install hospital elevators that can help the patient and staff in transporting from one floor to another rapidly.
Ease of Use
Not every patient knows how to operate a lift. Hospitals usually have lift guards, but it is still crucial to install lifts that can be easily operated by medical staff, patients, and visitors. To make the use of lift easy, the controls should be straightforward and accessible to all. The buttons of the floors should be clearly visible and large with some highlighting features. To make it operable by physically disabled individuals, buttons should be at an appropriate height. In addition to this, voice assistance in the lift is also crucial as it will assist the passengers by announcing the floor number and other safety information. Do not forget about proper light facility inside the elevator as it will help the users in guiding important information and status of the lift.
Hygiene and Cleanability
Hospital lift is very crucial and it keeps on operating day and night. Therefore, it is important to keep an eye on its cleanliness and hygiene. So, while finalizing a lift for the hospital building, it is important to look for lift material and design that supports high standard hygiene. Look for a lift material that is made from substances that resist bacterial growth. In addition, the inside material should be smooth and watertight, as this will make the lift easy to clean and sanitize. Smart elevators with automatic doors will also be a great option as this will reduce contacts, which will minimize the risk of contamination.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficient elevators have become an important factor in all types of buildings, including hospitals. This step will help the hospitals in reducing overall environmental footprint and operating costs. Look for elevators and lifts that have regenerative drives which could reuse and capture energy during lift’s operation. This will reduce the overall energy consumption. In addition, replace the traditional lights with LED lights as this is more energy efficient and has a longer lifespan. If you really want to play smart, then go for standby mode in elevators. This will allow the lifts to stay on standby mode which will definitely minimize the power use when the lift is not in frequent use.
Selecting the elevator for the hospital needs much more than just moving people and equipment from one floor to another. You need to go for a thoughtful evaluation and need to do proper calculation of usability, speed, hygiene, and capacity. A right elevator at a healthcare facility ensures that the operation in the premises goes smoothly and effectively. This will not only enhance the overall patient experience, but it will also improve the overall healthcare facility operations. Let Lui Elevators be your partner to reach new heights of patient care and efficiency.