Lift Maintenance Checklist: 20 Things Every Building Owner Should Check

A good lift maintenance checklist has 20 core checks spread over three intervals: 8 things to confirm every month, 6 every quarter and 6 once a year. Some you, the building owner or facility manager, can verify yourself just by watching and riding the lift. The rest must be done by a trained lift technician, and your job is to make sure they are done and written down. Use the list below to hold your maintenance company to account and to keep records that satisfy inspectors and insurers.

This guide is about planned maintenance. For quick daily checks by building staff and what to do in an entrapment, see our separate lift safety checklist.

How to use this lift maintenance checklist

Each check below says who does it:

• Owner: you or your staff can check this without tools and without entering the shaft, pit or machine area.
• Technician: only a trained lift technician should do this. You confirm it appears in the signed service report.

Adapt the list to your lift. A home lift used a few times a day and a hospital bed lift used all night do not need identical attention. Your lift company should tell you if your lift needs more frequent checks.

Monthly checks (1 to 8)

1. Floor levelling at every landing

Owner: ride to each floor and look at the step between the car sill and the landing sill. It should be flush or nearly flush. Technician: adjusts levelling sensors and drive settings if the car stops high or low.

2. Door opening, closing and reopening

Owner: doors should move smoothly, without banging or scraping, and reopen when a hand breaks the light curtain. Technician: cleans door tracks and sills, checks rollers, door operator, belts and the light curtain alignment.

3. Door locks and interlocks

Technician: checks every landing door lock and the car door contact. The lift must not move unless all doors are closed and locked. This is one of the most important safety checks on any visit.

4. Brake operation

Technician: inspects the brake for wear, correct gap and clean holding. Owner: report any jerk, slide or clunk when the car stops.

5. Alarm, intercom and emergency light

Owner: press the alarm, speak on the intercom and confirm someone answers at the security desk. Check the emergency light switches on when the main light is off. Technician: checks wiring and batteries.

6. ARD or emergency lowering function

Technician: simulates a power failure and confirms the ARD (automatic rescue device) brings the car to the nearest floor and opens the doors. On hydraulic lifts, the emergency lowering function is checked instead.

7. Lubrication and cleaning

Technician: lubricates guide rails and moving parts as specified, cleans the car top, and removes dust from the controller area. Excess oil or grease in the pit is a sign of poor work.

8. Pit condition

Technician: checks the pit is dry, clean and free of rubbish, and that the pit stop switch works. Owner: tell the technician about any seepage after heavy rain, which is common in the monsoon across Bihar and Eastern UP.

Quarterly checks (9 to 14)

9. Ropes or belts

Technician: inspects suspension ropes or belts for broken wires, wear, rust and equal tension. The trend matters as much as the reading, so ask for it to be recorded each quarter.

10. Sheave, machine and motor

Technician: checks sheave grooves, bearings, noise, temperature and fixing bolts. Owner: report any new humming, grinding or burning smell.

11. Controller and drive

Technician: checks connections, cooling fans and the drive fault log. A V3F drive stores recent faults, which often reveal a problem before passengers notice it.

12. Overload sensor

Technician: tests that the lift refuses to move and gives its warning or voice prompt when overloaded. Owner: make sure the rated capacity is clearly displayed in the cabin.

13. Battery health

Technician: checks the ARD battery, emergency light battery and intercom backup. Batteries weaken slowly and fail at the worst moment, usually during a long power cut.

14. Machine room or controller cabinet

Owner: keep it locked, ventilated and free of stored items. Technician: checks lighting, access, temperature and the main switch. For MRL lifts, the controller cabinet at the landing gets the same care.

Yearly checks (15 to 20)

15. Overspeed governor and safety gear test

Technician or competent engineer: trips the governor and confirms the safety gear grips the guide rails as designed. This protects against the car moving too fast downwards.

16. Buffers

Technician: checks pit buffers for damage, correct fixing and, for oil buffers, oil level and return.

17. Full safety circuit test

Technician: tests limit switches, final limits, car top and pit stop switches, and any UCMP or ACOP devices fitted. Lifts built to IS 17900 include protection against unintended car movement and ascending overspeed.

18. Rescue drill with building staff

Technician with owner: rehearse the rescue procedure with the staff who would respond first. Confirm landing door keys are kept safely and only with trained people.

19. Registration, inspection and insurance papers

Owner: check that lift registration, inspection certificates and any insurance are current. The Uttar Pradesh Lifts and Escalators Act, 2024 requires registration and regular maintenance. The Bihar Lift and Escalator Bill, 2024, passed by the Bihar Assembly on 2 August 2024, covers registration, inspections, mandatory maintenance and third-party insurance. Confirm the current rules with your state lift authority.

20. Condition review and modernisation plan

Technician with owner: once a year, sit down and review repeat faults, parts that are hard to source and the age of the controller, doors and machine. This is where you decide whether to repair, upgrade parts or plan a lift modernisation.

Checklist summary table

Owner vs technician: a clear line

Building staff can do a lot to catch problems early, but some tasks are dangerous without training. Keep this rule simple:

• Owners may: ride, watch, listen, test the alarm and intercom, check the cabin, keep areas clean and locked, and read service reports.
• Owners must not: open landing doors with a key unless trained, enter the pit or car top, open the controller, reset safety devices, or adjust doors and brakes.

If a check fails on the owner side, call your lift company rather than trying a fix. Our lift maintenance service covers the technician items on this list.

Record-keeping tip: one log per lift

Keep a single log for each lift, either a bound register kept at the security desk or a shared spreadsheet. For every entry, write:

1. Date and time
2. Check number from this list
3. Result: OK, fault found, or fixed
4. Parts replaced, if any
5. Name of technician and building representative

Attach the technician's signed service report to the log each month. After a year, you will see which faults repeat, whether response has been timely and what the lift really costs you. This record also makes registration, inspection and insurance paperwork much easier.

Signs the checklist is not being followed

Even with a contract in place, maintenance can slip. Watch for these warning signs:

• Service reports that are blank, unsigned or identical every month.
• Visits that last only a few minutes, with no time spent on the car top or in the pit.
• The same fault, such as doors reopening or poor levelling, coming back after every "repair".
• Nobody can tell you when the governor and safety gear were last tested.
• ARD or emergency light batteries that fail during the first long power cut.

If you see two or more of these, ask your maintenance company for a written explanation and a corrective plan, or get an independent survey of the lift's condition.

What your AMC should include

Most of the technician items above belong inside a proper annual maintenance contract. When you compare quotes, check that the scope names monthly visits, the yearly safety tests, a written report every visit and 24/7 breakdown support. Our guide to comprehensive vs non-comprehensive lift AMC explains which parts are usually covered under each type.

Book a maintenance check

Eldeal Engineers maintains lifts across Bihar, Eastern UP and Delhi NCR from offices in Sasaram, Patna, Varanasi and Bhagalpur, with 24/7 support. Want us to run this checklist on your lift? Book a free site survey or ask for an AMC quote. Call or WhatsApp +91 84489 44342 or +91 62077 91650.