What Are the Safety Features of Stairlifts?

Designed for Your Safety and Comfort

Stairlifts are especially designed to help people with lesser mobility access multistoried buildings in a safer and more comfortable manner. Known also as stair chair lifts, stair lifts are ideal for indoor and outdoor purposes. Home stair lifts are great additions to any residential setting and add to the value of the building.

When buying a stairlift, it is important to consider the safety features rather than just going for affordable stair lifts. Safety features are what make a stairlift and other accessibility equipment safe and dependable. Luckily most of the stairlifts come with a wide range of safety features that will protect the users from injury or harm.

What Are the Features Contributing to Safety?

• Safety sensors: A stair chair lift comes with built-in safety sensors that automatically detect anything that comes in the way of the stairlift. These automatically stop the lift when an obstacle is detected on the path of the lift, thus preventing any damage to the user and the lift. The safety sensors are highly effective and most of the modern stairlifts come with 6-8 safety sensors.

• Pressure-sensitive safety surfaces: Home stair lifts are equipped with pressure-sensitive safety surfaces which prevent the lift from colliding with any obstruction on the stairway. Typically they are located around the footrest, at the top of the carriage and at the bottom of the carriage.

• Limit sensors – These sensors ensure that the home stair lifts always stop in the correct position.

• Comes with adjustable seat height and footrest height

• Features lockable on/off switch – This feature offers vital protection, particularly to children. It prevents children or unauthorized users from using or activating the stair lifts.

• Comes with a smooth start stop motion – This eliminates any risk of injury through jerky start stop motions, and is an ideal option for people with back problems.

• Equipped with safety brake: The majority of these lifts are designed with electronic as well as mechanical brakes. Both of the braking systems work together to ensure that the chair can be stopped when the user wants to.

• Comes with seat belt: To ensure a safe and comfortable ride you should be wearing a safety belt. This safety feature is available with most of the stairlift models.

• Equipped with a swivel seat: Swivel seat is used to safely access the upper landing of the stairs. To dismount from the stair lift at the top of the stair, one must swivel the stairlift seat onto the landing. There is a lock release lever which allows the user to turn the seat. There are two types of swivel seats: 90° Swivel Seat and 180° Swivel Seat.

• Battery Backup: Battery backup is very important, especially if you are using electric stair lift.

The above listed features are provided for the newer stair lift models and ensure a safe and smooth ride for the user. Stairlifts are also provided with joystick, hand-held button controls and wireless remote control. These features facilitate easy operation of the lift for users with restricted hand mobility.