SEELift Network Skopje Meetup

Organized for the third time this year, SEELift Network brought the Balkans together in Skopje.

The third edition of the SEELift Network event organized by the Lift Associations of North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Croatia was held in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The conference, organized with the participation of 70 sector members from approximately 12 countries operating in the Balkans, was held at Holiday Inn Skopje Hotel between September 25-26. There were 13 presentations mainly on earthquake legislation, local regulations and drafts, accreditation in Balkan countries and old lift stock. Guests arriving the day before the event had the opportunity to visit two famous wineries in North Macedonia and enjoy local delicacies. 

Day One

Goran Sekovski from the Macedonian Lift Association (MLA), Ivica Belic from the Croatian Lift Association (HUDIZ), Valentin Marinkov from the Bulgarian Lift Association (BLA), Sloboden Cokrevski from the Accreditation Institute of RSM (IARSM), Zoran Rakicevic from the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS) and Dzevat Kicara from the Institute of Standardization (ISRSM) welcomed the guests with a short greeting speech. Marinkov talked about the stock of old lifts in Bulgaria in need of modernization, while Sloboden mentioned the importance of lift safety and the presentations in the program and pointed out that one of the most important attributes of this conference was the network it created in the Balkans. Zoran Rakicevic addressed the extent of the economic damage Macedonia suffered in the 1963 earthquake and said that most of the building stock was renovated after this earthquake. Dzevat Kicara stated that they will continue to support this event as a standardization unit and thanked Goran Sekovski for his work for the development of standards in North Macedonia and for organizing this event. 

This year’s event, unlike previous ones, also featured simultaneous translation for international speakers and participants. The first presentation was delivered by Süleyman Özcan, general manager of Solutions Engineering from Türkiye, on “Lifts in Case of Earthquakes and EN 81-77.” Commencing his presentation with striking pictures of the buildings and lifts damaged in the Kahramanmaraş earthquake earlier this year, Özcan then shared important information about EN 81-77 and its applications.

The second presentation was given by Goran Sekovski from the Institute of Technical Inspection and Safety Engineering in Skopje on “Seismic Categories for the Lifts in the Territory of North Macedonia.” 

The first presentation after the coffee break was delivered by Viktor Gavriloski from the Mechanical Faculty in Skopje with the title “What We Need to Know About Conformity Assessment of Lifts.” Gavriloski demonstrated with examples that the high number of accredited inspection bodies in Macedonia is not appropriate. He mentioned the nonconformity of the labels on imported products and illustrated with the pictures he captured in the field that manufacturers use the certificates they obtain for safety components outside of their scope. He mentioned that inspection bodies are not familiar with this issue and that it is overlooked in inspections. Subsequently, Sloboden Cekrovski from IARSM presented the duties and activities of the North Macedonian Accreditation Body.

After a long lunch break, the first day’s sessions were wrapped up with product and company presentations by sponsoring companies Schaefer, Uniken and Cibes.

On the evening of the first day, a gala dinner was hosted at the historic Etno Selo Timcevski restaurant, where all the guests enjoyed the opportunity to get together after a year’s absence. Panelists and visitors from countries other than the Balkans, such as Italy, Sweden and Türkiye, were the best indicators of the growing interest in the event this year.

Day Two

The first presentation of the second day was given by Besnik Qoku from Albania, providing information on the current number of lifts, annual inspections and number of accidents in Albania. Bozo Vukasinovic from ELKONT Serbia then shared information about the draft version of the new regulations on lifts in use in Serbia, as well as the earthquake that occurred in Albania in 2019.

The last panelist of the first session was Mladen Dominik from the Slovenian Institute of Occupational Safety, who addressed the issue of the Lift Noise in Residential Lifts. Dominik shared important information regarding the parts that cause noise in lifts and the levels that should be met in accordance with the norms.

The second session of the day started with Goran Pletvarski from the ISRSM, who shared detailed information about the activities carried out by ISRSM’s technical committee for lifts and escalators. Afterwards, Dr. Magdalena Krstanoski, who delivered her presentation online from the U.S., talked about “The Innovative Future of Sustainability and Safety with Sociocultural and Environmental Context in Mind.”

The closing presentation of the event was delivered by Zdravko Cizmar from HUDIZ. In his presentation on “Empowering Professionals and Technicians through Lift Accessibility in Multi-Dwelling Buildings,” Cizmar provided recommendations on the budget required to raise awareness and encourage best practices of lift safety and accessibility in multi-dwelling buildings.

The location and date of the 2024 event will be communicated in ELEVATOR WORLD publications.