Handicap Lift Maintenance and Inspection

Approach Handicap Lift Maintenance from a Customer Perspective 

Maintenance of your handicap lift is vital to ensure you have a long-lasting, safe lift. BraunAbility recommends performing maintenance every 750 cycles (a cycle being one deployment and one stow together) to keep your ADA lift in top condition. BraunAbility provides a step-by-step operational video for our handicap lifts and wheelchair lift service manuals for our clients. These tools are available with your purchase of an ADA platform lift or on our website.  

Many organizations believe wheelchair lift maintenance requirements only pertain to a professional technician maintaining the lift, neglecting the “at-home” maintenance necessary for product longevity. Agencies, school districts, and non-certified technicians often forget about cleaning the lift, which can get very dirty and greasy. Now, more than ever, handicap lift cleanliness is a customer expectation and business necessity.  Please remember, your clients don’t want to get dirty, or worse, from riding your lift.   

Ride Your ADA Lift to Ensure Proper Function 

When inspecting and maintaining handicap lifts, look for the obvious problems like chaffed wires, leaky fluids, and missing parts, as well as loose connections and lubrication. One of the topics we continually preach to ADA lift owners is to put yourself in the wheelchair, to think from a different and necessary perspective. Allow yourself to see your work in a different light by riding up on the lift yourself. Having compassion for customers allows a different perspective when training technicians or drivers. 

BraunAbility Free Monthly Handicap Lift Maintenance Classes  

BraunAbility offers a free monthly class on basic ADA lift maintenance and adjustments. The class is a great way to train a technician or refresh his or her skills. The ADA lift class is an hour and fifteen minutes long and can be accessed via a link from a BraunAbility sales rep.   

BraunAbility Commercial Site Enhancements 

The BraunAbility Commercial website has added a significant number of new features and resources. Our goal is to make the improved website an important tool for all agencies, school districts, and technicians.  We recently produced two new commercial handicap lifts operation videos. We have a short version (5 min) and a comprehensive version (15 min). It is highly recommended that agencies and school districts ensure each driver takes the time to watch both videos. Also, a best practice is to document the training program with drivers. The videos show proper and recommended procedures for operating commercial handicap lifts.  

Lift maintenance and operation procedures are musts for every organization. We offer a DPA checklist that provides maintenance items on each ADA lift inspection and performance check. 

DPA Lit Maintenance Checklist

General Inspection

• Lift Battery, Circuit Breaker & Cable
• Lift Ground & Secondary Ground
• Vehicle Interlock Power
• Vehicle Interlock Prohibits Veh. Movement
• Lift Door Condition
• Hand Pendant Condition/Function
• Inspect Mounting Components

Cycle Check

• General Operation Through Complete Cycle
• Main, Handrail, OB & IB Bumper Adjustments
• Floor Level Adjustment
• Platform Angle Adjustment
• Outer Barrier Interlock
• Inner Barrier Interlock
• Threshold Warning Interlock
• 50 Pound Fold Interlock
• Platform Lights
• Anti-Skid
• Operation & Warning Decals
• Back-up Pump Handle Location
• Manual Override/Back-up System Function

Mechanical Components

• Base Plate, Tower, Arm & Platform Welds
• Outer Barrier Pins, Gas Springs & Fasteners
• Inner Barrier Pins, Gas Springs & Fasteners
• Pivot Pin Fasteners
• Pivot Pins & Bushing Condition
• Handrails
• Lift-Tite System

Hydraulic Components Checks

• Leaks
• Hoses & Harness Routing/Condition (pump, parallel arms, vertical arms & platform)
• Remove Pump Cover & Check Fluid Level
• Fluid Condition
• Lift Pump Motor Cables/Connections
• Lift Pump Harnesses/Fuses/Electrical Components

Please ensure your organization is up to date with training on all the BraunAbility handicap lifts products in your fleet.