Lift capacity signs are based on ‘outdated assumptions of the weight of the average Brit’ – and mean lifts are getting stuck
Lifts in Britain are no longer big enough due to increasing obesity rates and could be unsafe, research suggests.
Experts say people risk getting stuck in lifts and warn obese people face stigma when lifts get too full. Their research shows how elevator capacity signs for the maximum number of passengers have not been updated in the last 50 years despite the average Brit weighing much more. University College London (UCL) assessed lift weight signs across Europe and found they have not been updated to reflect the increased weight of the average citizen since the turn of the century.
Findings presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul show that historic standards assumed an average weight of just under 12 stone (75kg) – which was the average weight of a UK man in the mid-1970s. However the average weight of a UK man is now 86kg and a woman 73kg.
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Author Nick Finer, clinical professor of medicine at UCL, said: “The failure of lift manufacturers to adapt to rising levels of obesity and body size means that lift capacities are overestimated meaning that journey times are likely to be increased and that safety could be compromised.
“Anybody who has been into any English or UK hospital will understand the long waits you have to go up four or five floors. Some lifts do have ‘cut outs’ if you exceed the weight limit but not all do.
“I have already had some people come up to me today to say they know people who have been stuck in lifts where it stopped going because the total weight has been exceeded, even though there were less than the stated [maximum] number of people in it.”
Lift manufacturers are required to display maximum weight allowance the maximum number of passengers the lift can accommodate. Industry standards define the passenger capacity by dividing the maximum load of a lift by the average weight of a passenger.
The study looked at lift safety in the UK as well as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Finland. It showed weight capacity limits increased broadly in line with average body weight between 1972 and 2002, rising from around 62kg to 75kg per person. But since then companies appear to have continued using the same limit for decades despite bulging waistlines amid an obesity epidemic.
Prof Finer said US scientists proposed raising the standard to 80kg in the 2020s but it was not widely adopted. He explained: “What seems to have happened is there was a shift to manufacturers calculating the amount of room you take up on the floor. But they assume the shape of a person is an oval rather than a circle.
“They have completely failed to recognise that if obesity is increasing then so is the amount of room you take up.
“If there are three or four people in an average size lift and a person living with obesity comes to get in you can be aware of the looks that are there. And if somebody living with obesity is already in the lift and four or five people try to get into lift, again you can see the looks that they give.
Three in 10 adults in the UK are obese – about 16 million people. Experts said it is an example of how our communal environments have not been adapted for plus-sized citizens.
Prof Finer said train and plane seats and doorways are also poorly sized for the very large. He added: “I just think we need, sadly, to super-size many of the things in life.”
Some airlines including Southwest in the US now make plus-sized passengers book two seats if they cannot fit comfortably into one. Air France offers a discount on the second seat if a fat flyer needs two.
Registered nutritionist Louise Payne said: “People living with obesity face daily barriers that most of society never has to think about – lift weight restrictions being one of them.
“It’s clear public spaces aren’t always designed with larger bodies in mind. This is not simply an issue of comfort, it’s about dignity, accessibility, and inclusion. Nobody should feel embarrassed, unsafe, or excluded when using public transport or accessing everyday services.”
Jane DeVille-Almond, president of the British Obesity Society, added: “We need to accept that society is unlikely to revert to sizes from 50 years ago, and start developing facilities for the 21st century.”
