Car Lifts Near Children? 5 Safety Essentials to Keep in Mind

A car lift is a great way to increase the available parking spots in your garage or to provide access to a multi-level or underground garage. Whether you are thinking about putting a car lift in your home, an apartment building you are designing or a commercial building, you need to think about safety. If there are children around, here are some safety essentials to keep in mind:

1. Make Sure Shaft Is Closed When Not in Use

When deciding on the design for your car lift, make sure that the shaft is closed when it is not in use. For example, if you opt for a phantom lift or stacked parking, that usually consists of a platform that you drive your car onto. Then, you lower the platform so that the car sinks below ground.

It's critical to ensure that this platform has a top that sits flush with the surface of your garage floor. That doubles your available parking spaces, but it also ensures that the shaft is covered so that no one can fall into it.

2. Eliminate Gaps

When the lift is down as described above, the top of it should be completely flush with the surrounding ground. There should not be gaps, but rather, it should be a tight fit. If there are gaps, a child may trip, get a leg caught or even completely slip through them.

3. Keep Access Doors Locked

If the lift goes down to a subterranean garage, you want to ensure that children can't get into that area without supervision. If they are down there on their own, the car lift may accidentally come down on top of them.

To ensure their safety, make sure that any access doors leading to the underground garage are locked. If possible, you may want the doors to only lock one way. That way, anyone who is inside the subterranean garage can get out, but no one can get into that space.

4. Keep Controls Out of Children's Reach

If there are buttons for your car lift on the wall or anywhere else, you need to ensure that they are out of the reach of children. You don't want children to be able to play with the lift and potentially hurt themselves or anyone else.

5. Check for Issues

Once the car lift is installed, make sure to monitor it for issues on a regular basis. If there are safety concerns, get them repaired right away. To learn more, contact a company that installs and repairs car lifts.


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