At KONE, safety is one of the highest priority areas; its elevators and escalators are designed to maximize passenger safety and enable easy inspection to ensure safe operations at all times Amit Gossain, Managing Director, KONE Elevators India

Covid-19 has pushed us to fast-track digital transformation, making elevators more sophisticated with cutting-edge technologies. The focus is now on touchless elevator control solutions to enhance safety, security, and convenience. Architects and interior designers are also relying on technology - from automatic doors, app activated elevators, mobile phone-controlled hotel room locks, and sensor activated light switches - touchless technology has arrived and is here to stay!

While the world continues to urbanize with over 200,000 people moving to cities every day, the nature of urbanization is changing. People living in high rises expect services and experiences that bring a sense of well-being and safety. Workplaces are being redesigned and recalibrated to support new ways of working, along with health and safety guidelines.

Designing For Safety At KONE

Technology and Innovation
Elevator safety is being driven by Technology and Innovation. From vertical transportation perspective, it means looking at safer, smarter, and technology-enabled building solutions. It’s exciting how technology-led innovations have made their way into elevator safety. Smart digital buildings are helping people to come together and are conducive to collaborative working by facilitating interactions and saving precious resources.

KONE is using technology to resolve many challenges brought by rapid urbanization and the pandemic. Using insights based on data, we are creating new and more customized people flow solutions with elevators that function better and more efficiently. This in turn brings more value to our customers and the end-users.

KONE DX Class Elevator
The world’s ground-breaking class of digitally connected elevators, the KONE DX Class elevator is a game-changer that is transforming how people experience elevators. With built-in connectivity for improved people flow, it promises an experience that connects at every level. This is a clear differentiator in the industry and a break-through technology for KONE customers. It takes the elevator journey far beyond the ordinary in user experience and safety by harnessing the power of digitalization and human insight-driven design.

Analytics in Elevator Safety Technology
There is increasing demand for artificial intelligence-based analytics to make smarter proactive maintenance decisions that take people flow to a whole new level. The rise of mobile connectivity, data and machine learning, 3D printing, cloud computing, Application Program Interfaces (APIs), and the sharing economy have broken down traditional barriers to entry and accelerated the speed of change.

By connecting to a cloud-based service and using artificial intelligence-based analytics, we can make smarter proactive maintenance decisions with information on upcoming maintenance needs and identifying any potential problems.

With new technologies and connectivity, we can provide an opportunity to add value to the customers in new ways that meet their specific needs; at the same time technological developments have changed user expectations on speed, safety, transparency, and predictability.

KONE 24/7 Connected Services
Our innovative 24/7 Connected Services, the world’s most intelligent elevator and escalator services that monitors round-the-clock, results in fewer faults, faster repairs. And for the elevator passengers, it ensures a sense of safety and peace of mind. Using cloud technology, the elevators and escalators can now speak their minds and keep technicians one step ahead of what’s happening.
Amit Gossain, Managing Director, KONE Elevators India
We have revolutionized elevator safety and maintenance with cutting-edge solutions as we believe that technology certainly enhances the people flow experience

Amit Gossain

Green & Sustainable Vertical Transportation
Building owners and developers are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainable construction. In addition to the environmental aspects of our offerings and operations, the sustainability focus areas include safety, quality, diversity, and inclusion, as well as ethics and compliance.

There is a need to ensure less crowding and maintaining physical distance in public spaces. Our handrail sanitizing solutions, physical distancing elevator floor stickers, and elevator full load limit adjustment, are some of the solutions that ensure less crowding and thereby a healthier environment.

The elevator emergency automatic rescue device (also known as ARD) is installed in an elevator to enable the elevator to safely reach the adjacent floor in the event of a power failure or blackout in a building. An elevator emergency landing device is useful for preventing passengers from becoming trapped inside an elevator during a power failure. Reinforcing its focus on safety, KONE does not provide collapsible gates.

At KONE, we ensure that our safety policies are clearly communicated to the employees and the sub-contractors to preclude deviations in any process. Risk assessment and regular safety audits are done at every stage.

Planning & Consulting
To keep people moving safely, buildings need to be functional, easy to navigate and adaptable. Effortless people flow requires meticulous planning – this is where our experts and advanced tools come in.

KONE’s People Flow Planning and Consulting helps create buildings with seamless people flow. We gather and analyze data and simulate reality to get insights into what works and what doesn’t, and why. Decisions based on accurate data mean a better user experience for everyone. We work closely with our customers to analyze how their building handles the flow of people and help them achieve its full potential.

KONE’s planning for people flow in complex buildings started with calculating and simulating the performance of elevators and other vertical transport systems. This resulted in the designing of KONE People Flow Simulator (PFS), a holistic solution that encompasses end-to-end people flow planning and advanced analytics for entire buildings – all with a full 3D visualization that can be made VR compatible.

The traffic analysis supports customers in choosing the ideal product or combination of products to handle the expected passenger traffic in the building. It provides a smooth, safe ride and a pleasant passenger experience, even under the most demanding traffic conditions. This really requires a quality analysis done by professionals as accurate modelling of how people use elevators and behave in emergencies and is key to successful people flow planning.

KONE brings its project management expertise at every phase of the construction cycle. Its scaffold-less method ensures safe and hassle-free installation. Strict quality criteria are followed at every step of the project. Maximum safety on site is ensured through procedures such as site audits, 5S, and installation safety passport. The installation teams work hand in hand with the project teams to ensure timely completion and delivery.

Designing For Safety At KONE

Uniform Lift Regulation Act
Vertical transportation system is a crucial element in the efficient operation of buildings, and for the experience and comfort of building occupants. Moreover, today, elevators are not restricted to only high-rise buildings; even a two-storeyed building is fitted with elevators. So, from being considered as a luxury item, lifts are now an integral part of many buildings.

Given the relevance of vertical mobility in today’s urban environment, there is a rising concern regarding safety and regulations for installing the elevators, which calls for the Lift Regulation Act to be made mandatory. Till date, only twelve states have enacted the legislation that ensures safe installation of elevators.

Every state’s Lift Act defines the procedures, fee structure, and timelines for obtaining permissions for installations of lifts and escalators within the state. There are guidelines for obtaining licenses for existing buildings as well. One has to refer to specific State’s Lift Act and rules for the exact procedure. Applicability of safety codes across India is the primary challenge being faced by the industry. Over time, the organized players in the industry have strictly adhered to the conditions prescribed in the codes to help ensure the safety of their products, and to ensure that equipment is maintained and inspected according to the respective codes.

It will be important to change it to a Central act rather than only a state act. It’s time that the government brings uniform guidelines across the country for the safety norms to be followed by the elevators and escalators manufacturers for increased safety across infra and real estate projects.

At KONE, we have global policies, processes, and guidelines in place to enable that our business activities, including sub-contractor operations, are organized and conducted in a structured and globally harmonized way. These are being followed stringently.