Successful Events and Safety

In this final issue of 2022, Issue 113, we close the year by reporting on two of the U.K. lift industry’s biggest and most important events, the Lift & Escalator Symposium 2022 and LIFTEX 2022, both triumphs. It’s been a year of normalizing, getting back to our regular lives and, hopefully, putting COVID-19 behind us. Attending events, bringing the industry back together, makes us all feel a little more like ourselves, and the attendance numbers and comments seem to reflect that. I, for one, was pleased to see so many of my British friends at LIFTEX. It had been far too long of nothing but emails and the occasional phone call, and it was refreshing to shake hands and have face-to-face conversations and some laughs again.  

The Lift & Escalator Symposium 2022, reported on by Richard Peters, returned as a face-to-face event (with a virtual component) on 21-22 September. The popular conference, in its 13th iteration, was held at the Hilton Hotel in Northampton, U.K., and according to Peters, “I don’t think I have ever seen so many smiling faces at a lift conference! Post-pandemic, we all really appreciated the chance to meet again in person.” With 26 papers and a panel discussion over two days, the symposium delivered a packed and fast-moving programme. 

Not even a month later, LIFTEX 2022, reported on by Angie C. Baldwin, took place in person on 12-13 October at ExCeL London after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus. Now in its 34th year, the tri-annual trade show, run by the Lift & Escalator Industry Association, attracted its largest crowd to date with this iteration. The trade show welcomed 4,000 attendees, a 22% increase from 2019, and 100 exhibitors hailing from 12 countries, including the U.K., Croatia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S. LIFTEX 2022 Show Director Oliver Greening said, “We are delighted with the success of this year’s show, and it was great to see the industry reconvene under one roof once again.” 

There are more events covered in these pages. From Spain with SILC 2022 to back home in the U.K. with LiftEx and LEEA Awards 2022, it was indeed a busy few months. 

This issue, we focus on the all-important topic of Safety with four articles that provide a well-rounded view of the subject. Starting us off, our Consultant’s Voice columnist Colin Craney reflects on his 45 years in the industry through the lens of safety in “A Safety Journey.” He says his longevity gives him a rare perspective: 

“I am able to consider approaches adopted prior to Britain’s accession to the European Communities in 1973 and those prior to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 together with developments in workplace health and safety through to the present day.” 

Terry Lifts discusses a vertical-transportation (VT) solution that promotes fire safety in the home in “Fire Protection and Domestic Through-Floor Lifts.” In “Safety First,” our Lindsay Fletcher has a conversation with the founder of Elevating Safety Solutions, Stewart Proctor. “IoT Safety Predictive Monitoring of Lift Operations, Shafts and Buildings” by Andrew Gorin and Paolo Riva, a paper delivered at this year’s Lift & Escalator Symposium, takes a “brief look at how IoT remote continuous monitoring is the key to the worldwide digital transformation and modernisation of buildings and lifts.”  

In this issue’s cover story, “Truly Transformational,” author Kaija Wilkinson tells the story of Otis and its suppliers providing VT for the Bank Tube station modernisation in London, one of London Underground’s busiest stations. 

Happy holidays to you and yours! We will see you in the new year with so much more.