Schindler worldwide

Safety At the heart of everything we do

Every day, we move more than 2 billion passengers, who rely on our products to get around – that means the safety and reliability of our products are critical.

We never compromise on safety. That is true for the safety of our passengers as it is true for that of our employees and subcontractors.

Zero incidents – this is what we aspire to. We work to make this happen through clear guidance, group-wide standards, and careful monitoring. We want all our employees and subcontractors to return home safely after every job.

Product safety
Employee safety

Product safety

Schindler products are engineered, manufactured, installed and maintained to the highest safety standards. We follow rigorous safety and quality protocols that apply to the product’s entire life cycle. These include stringent requirements from development, design, and installation to maintenance and modernization. We ensure insights and expertise from our fitters and service technicians are shared globally and also fed back to product developers.

Ellie and Eski – ambassadors for a safe ride

Ellie and Eski are the mascots of one of our global safety campaigns. We aim to educate children and their parents about the safe use of elevators and escalators with videos, cartoons, songs, and customer events. Elevators and escalators are an essential part of the urban landscape. They are as common as street crossings and it is important for users, especially children, to have greater awareness of how to use them safely.

Elevator tips

Watch your step – the elevator car may not be perfectly level with the floor.
Stand clear of the doors – keep clothes and other carry-on items away from the opening.
Hold children and pets firmly.
Passengers nearest to the doors should move first when the car arrives.
Push and hold the DOOR OPEN button if doors need to be held open, or ask someone to push the button for you.
Never try to stop a closing door, wait for the next car.
Pay attention to the floor indications.
If the doors do not open when the elevator stops, push the DOOR OPEN button.

In the event of an elevator emergency

If the elevator should ever stop between floors, do not panic. There is plenty of air in the elevator.
Never climb out of a stalled elevator.
Use the ALARM or HELP button, the telephone or the intercom to call for assistance.
Above all, wait for qualified help to arrive and never try to leave an elevator that has not stopped normally.
Emergency lighting will come on in the event of a power failure.

Escalator tips

Face forward and keep firm grip on the handrail. Stand clear of the sides of the escalator.
Always hold children's hands on escalator and do not permit children to sit or play on the steps.
Take extra precaution to avoid the sides of the escalator and the gap between steps when wearing flip-flops, sandals or other soft rubbery shoes.
Do not take wheelchairs, electric scooters, strollers, hand carts, luggage carts or similar items on the escalators.
Never stop, stand or play at an escalator landing.
Do not go in the opposite direction of the escalator.
Do not lean against or reach over the sides of the escalator.
Don not climb onto or ride the handrail.
Use the emergency stop button if needed. The buttons are usually located at the entrances and exits of escalator.
Keep long clothing and umbrellas clear of steps and sides.

Kids on elevators

The rules for riding elevators are about the same for kids as they are for adults.

It's a good idea for children to be especially careful around the doors.
Kids should never put their hands or feet into the area between the moving door and the adjacent door jamb.
Kids should never try to stop a closing door by putting their hand or foot in its path.

Kids on escalators

When riding with a small child, hold his or her hand, or carry the child in one arm while holding the handrail with the other. Help children step onto and off of the escalator.

Do not allow children to sit on escalator steps - clothing or fingers can get caught.
Never let children ride on or play with the handrail.
Don't allow children to use an escalator unattended.
Don't allow children to walk or run up the "down" escalator or down the "up" escalator.
Don't let children drag their feet along an escalator's sides. No matter how tempting it is to make that distinctive "squeaky noise," a child's foot can become caught between the step and the side panel, causing serious injury.
Never take a stroller on an escalator. Use the elevator instead.

The Schindler product safety concept

Our products remain in use for decades and we take care of the maintenance and regular checks throughout the service lifetime. As a global leader, we have the capacity to deliver fast, safe and reliable mobility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To ensure this we implemented a dedicated product safety concept which is based on five pillars:

Our safety promise doesn't stop with Schindler products

Our multi-brand Competence Centers and an international network of experts make sure that all equipment benefits from the same professional Schindler service and is maintained against the same quality and safety standards, no matter what brand.

Global Safety Program: Confirmation of Periodic Safety Inspection (CPSI)

CPSI is an industry-leading global safety standard for elevators, introduced by Schindler for periodic inspections of critical safety parts of all units under maintenance. Its goal is to ensure that 100% of Schindler’s maintained elevators are safe.

The yearly CPSI of every lift in the Schindler portfolio is carried out by trained service technicians and is made up of over 70 individual tests and checks on components. Every five years additional safety tests and checks are conducted by independent certified inspectors (4-eye principle).

CPSI is unique in the industry and gives additional confidence for the customer on top of preventative maintenance, and most importantly higher safety for our passengers.

Preventative maintenance

Wherever possible, Schindler runs preventative and pro-active maintenance programs.

With Schindler's own specially developed Qualison testing technology, service technicians can inspect the drive shafts of elevators using ultrasonic flaw detectors. Surface and subsurface discontinuities such as cracks caused by material fatigue are detected ahead of time. Preventative action can then be taken at an early stage, without compromising an elevator's or escalator's safety or performance.

Moreover, Schindler offers clients a range of comprehensive safety options, including the pro-active upgrading of existing elevator or escalator models using the latest technology.

We ensure that all of our products and services worldwide conform to requirements, country-specific laws, regulations and norms. Schindler actively proposes appropriate modernization solutions to the owners of the equipment to ensure newest safety regulations are met.

Employee safety

At the end of each day, we want employees to return home safely. This is why we are working hard to create a safe, inclusive, and sustainable work environment.

Leadership, best-in-class training, effective process compliance, and a zero-tolerance approach towards safety violations are Schindler’s essentials for building a stronger safety culture.

Rob Seakins, Member of the Group Executive Committee, responsible for Field Quality & Excellence

Our behavior-based safety training

Being aware of potential risks and how to avoid and mitigate them are key elements of being safe on the job. In comprehensive behavior-based safety trainings, Schindler promotes a sophisticated safety culture amongst all employees. We also conduct management-led safety jobsite visits and training sessions, on-the-job pre-task risk assessments by supervisors and technicians to build an incident free culture.

Safety and health awareness days

Around the world, we regularly conduct safety and health awareness workshops to help employees regard safety as a personal asset and practice an open feedback culture among colleagues. These events also touch on personal conduct in general and how to stay safe on the jobsite, on the move and at home.

Schindler also runs accident prevention campaigns, offers influenza vaccinations and promotes activities to stay physically and mentally fit.

Measuring safety performance

Schindler applies the comprehensive safety indicator Total Case Rate (TCR). TCR measures not only the number of lost workday cases due to injury, but also includes cases where an employee cannot perform their regular job. Our objective is to improve our TCR by 20% compared to 2017. In 2022, our TCR was 2.7, representing a 46% improvement from our 2017 baseline (5.0). Every injury is one too many, and we are determined to continue to reduce the number of employee incidents and injuries.