New standard for evacuation of persons with disabilities

The new standard EN 81-76:2025 is available at CEN. Publications by the national standards organisations have already been issued or will be issued shortly. Citation in the Official Journal of the EU is expected in the first quarter 2026.

By Eberhard Vogler

As the name itself says, the standard includes requirements for lifts that are suitable for the evacuation of persons with disabilities. As a result, it covers an area for which there had not previously been any European standard. EN 81-70 describes the requirements for lifts on barrier freedom but does not take into account the additional characteristics for the evacuation of persons with disabilities.

In some European countries, there are already standards or documents on the subject of evacuation or the further operation of lifts in the event of fire. But these are not present throughout.

Mode of operation and requirements

Photo: © Clemenspool – eigenes Werk

In general, the operation of an evacuation lift resembles that of a firefighters lift. After reception of the evacuation recall signal, Phase 1 starts: the car travels to the evacuation exit landing (EEL) and closes the doors after any persons in the car have been released.

Phase 2 evacuation operation starts after the manual or automatic activation of an operation mode. There are three possible operation modes with different priorities: automatic evacuation operation, remote assisted evacuation operation and driver assisted evacuation operation. The lift must be fitted with at least one of these operation modes (see Box "Overview of operations").

Classes of evacuation lifts

The concept of EN 81-76 provides for two classes of evacuation lifts:
• Class A: This operation is intended for small buildings such as residential buildings and has restricted scope. Thus, an automatic rescue operation that travels the car to the next landing, for example, is sufficient (no secondary power supply required in the building). Other restrictions are only one evacuation exit landing and a rated load of the lift of at least 630 kg.
• Class B: Class B evacuation lifts are designed for larger buildings or buildings with a larger number of people who need to be evacuated. A minimum rated load of 1,000 kg and a secondary power supply are for example required for this class. Evacuation lifts should correspond to Class B at the latest when firefighters lifts are prescribed for the building

Central requirements

Photo: © CEN

These are the central requirements for an evacuation lift:
• To get assistance to trapped passengers (not for emergency rescue), an emergency trap door is in general required in the car according to EN 81-20 with larger dimensions stated for Class B.
• An evacuation lift must be fitted with a signal input or an evacuation lift switch for activation of Phase 1.
• The car and EELs must be fitted with various announcements and displays.
• Depending on the operation mode(s) selected, the following must be present:
o a two-way speech communication system (more comprehensive in the case of remote and reduced in the case of driver assisted evacuation operation) and
o an operating panel and a video monitoring system (in the case of remote evacuation operation).
• In addition, the lift must have the option of ceasing the evacuation operation via a suspend service signal. This external signal may be sent if the lift environment is no longer safe (e.g. if there is smoke in a safe area in front of the landing, the lift shaft or the planned escape route).

Building boundary conditions

Important building boundary conditions are:
• The lift shaft is a separate fire compartment and the lift installations and shaft are protected against fire and water.
• The lift can have one, or in the case of Class B, several alternative EELs. Should the active EEL or the associated escape route no longer be safe, switching to another EEL is possible.
• There are safe areas in front of the landings of an evacuation lift in which persons waiting can assemble until evacuation. EN 81-76 also permits the combination of safe areas at the landing with a stairway. As a result, the German solution of a lift without a ‘lift shaft’ in the centre of a stairwell is possible.
• The building must be fitted with a secondary power supply at least for Class B evacuation lifts.

(A general overview of the standard requirements can be found in the diagram Processes and functions regarding EN 81-76.)

Part 2 of the article

The practical application was dealt with in a second article. It should be mentioned in advance that many questions on the practical application have to be answered by the individual evacuation concept of the building.

The author is member of the Working Group 6 (Fire related issues) of CEN/TC 10 in which the standard EN 81-76 was prepared and convenor of the German mirror committee and chief engineer for codes and standards at TK Elevator.

Overview of the operation modes: • Automatic evacuation operation: In the case of automatic evacuation, the lift responds autonomously to external calls and transports passengers to the EEL. Provided the loading of the lift is below 20 percent of the rated load, intermediate landings can be evacuated during a trip to the EEL. Either all landings can be evacuated or the building management system prescribes situation-dependent evacuation zones.

• Remote assisted evacuation operation: During remote assisted evacuation, the lift is remotely controlled solely by an evacuation assistant in the control panel. The control panel receives all external calls. The car and landings are fitted with video monitoring and a two-way speech connection to the control panel for monitoring and communication.

• Driver assisted evacuation operation: In this operation mode, an evacuation assistant travels in the car during the evacuation mode. The assistant can recognise the incoming landing calls at the car control panel and controls the car alone. The car is fitted with corresponding operating equipment and a two-way speech connection with the EEL and with the place where the emergency rescue can be carried out (machine room or control panel).