In an article published in August of 2019, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) outlines a landing door code warning consumers with home elevators and visitors to homes with elevators to protect small children from being crushed in a gap that may exist between the doors. The distance between the inner elevator car door or gate and the exterior (i.e., hoistway) elevator access door may be too deep to protect small children. If the gap is too deep between any exterior (i.e., hoistway) door and the farthest point of the inner door (which is often an accordion door) a child can enter and close the exterior (i.e., hoistway) door without opening the interior car door, and become entrapped between the two doors, resulting in serious injuries or death when the elevator car moves.
One of the impacts of this landing door code will be on the aesthetics of the door because the door has to accommodate the interlock needing to be mortised into the door jam and door. Additionally, since the door is going to be pushed in, the idea of the exterior face of the door and the hallway paneling being one continuous surface cannot occur. A simple solution is to have either a very thick door or add beveled pillows to the inside face of the door measuring a maximum 3/4” From the inside face of the door to the hoistway sill edge.
Here is a link to the article by the Consumer Product Safety Commission: Click for article
The following video has been created by the National Association of Elevator Contractors to teach the most current safety code changes for private residence elevators for architects.
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