Article 45 -Escalators & Moving Walks Usage Information
Escalators & Moving Walks Usage Information - Instruction Manual:
An instruction manual to Escalators & Moving Walks usage information consisting of the information relating to the use, maintenance, periodic inspection and checks as well as rescue operations must always be provided for escalators and moving walks.
All the information in the handbook must be according to EN ISO 12100:2010, 6.4, as well as additional provisions regarding the use of machines within the area of the standard.
In addition, all the available information in the instruction manual must, independently or in combination, include transport, assembly and installation, commissioning, use (setting, teaching/programming, operation, cleaning, faultfinding, and maintenance), and if necessary, decommissioning, dismantling and disposal of the escalator and moving walk.
Escalators & moving walks warnings and signs:
Although escalators and moving walks have greatly improved accessibility to multi-floor facilities, these conveyors are not without hazards. To decrease the escalator-related accidents and to attract passengers' attention to the safety requirements they have to consider when they are riding on escalators and moving walks, manufacturers provide some warning and safety signs at places where escalators and moving walks are installed (The signs must be placed at the doors of the escalator or moving walk shaft).
The escalator signs are to make passengers aware of the hazards threatening them and show them the rules that are vital to follow so that they maintain their safety during the time they are using escalators and moving walks.
Escalator safety signs are mandatory and these signs are necessary to address topics from regular usage to emergency operations.
All of these signs, inscriptions, and notices must be made of durable material and be placed in noticeable places. In addition, they must be written in easily readable characters in the language of the country where the escalator or moving walk is installed.
In the following, some of the safety signs and labels for compulsory and prohibited actions are listed, which must be positioned at escalators and moving walks entrances:
- “Young children must be held firmly”;
- “Pets must be carried”
- “Use the handrail”
- “Pushchairs not permitted”
Note: Depending on the conditions of the escalator or moving walk location, it is necessary to provide prohibition signs. For instance, providing “Transportation of bulky and heavy loads not permitted” sign and obligatory action signs like “use permitted only with footwear” or “for safety reasons, wheelchair users are advised to use the lift”.
Escalators & moving walks stopping devices:
The stop devices manually operated for emergency situations must either be in red or marked with a “STOP” inscription and they should be mounted on the escalator or moving walk or right at its adjacency. The stop device actuator must be located in clearly observable and accessible places of the escalator or moving walk. Besides, reaching the stop switch must be possible from outside the step or pallet band. If the stop device is mounted on in the vertical distance between the top of the handrail and step nose or pallet/step surface at the lower part of the balustrade, there has to be an indicator located on the inner side of the balustrade with particular specifications: the indicator must have a minimum diameter of 80 mm and be colored red. It must be marked with "STOP" in white and be placed at the upper side of the distance between the top of the handrail and step nose or pallet/belt surface. There should be an arrow pointing from the signs to the stop device. The installed stop devices must not have a distance of more than 30 m in escalators and a distance of 40 m in moving walks. Therefore, providing extra stop switches is necessary, in case keeping the distance is necessary.
Barred Escalators & moving walks during repair and maintenance
During maintenance, repair, inspection, or similar operations, the accessibility to the escalator or moving walk must be banned to unauthorized persons by the devices which must bear the notice “No access”, or the “No Entry” indicator, which is based on the “Convention on Road Signs and Signals”, both must be located in the immediate area.
Instructions for hand winding devices
In case of installing a hand-winding device operating instructions for use must be available in its surrounding area. The direction of movement of the escalator or moving walk must be indicated clearly as well.
In addition, notices must be fixed on the access doors to machinery spaces outside the truss, driving and return stations on access doors to machinery spaces outside the truss, driving and return stations, as well as a notice with the following inscription:
“Machinery space - danger, access prohibited to unauthorized persons”.
Special indicators for automatically starting escalators and moving walks
A visible signal system, e.g. road traffic signals, must be provided for escalators or moving walks, which start automatically by detecting the entering of a passenger, so that it both indicates the direction of movement the user and whether the escalator or moving walk is available for use. An additional indication (e.g. sign for two-way traffic) is also required for this operation when the machine is set in a two Direction-Mode.
