Residential Elevator Safety
With more than 7 million unique places to stay in more than 100,000 cities and 191 countries and regions, Airbnb offers something for everyone, whether it’s a castle, a private room, a treehouse or a yurt.
As the diverse array of Airbnb listings continues to grow, one principle remains consistent — the safety of the Airbnb community is our priority. On that note, we know hosts with larger homes listed on the Airbnb platform may have or be considering installing residential elevators. For those hosts, it’s important to be aware of new safety guidance from the Consumer Safety Product Commission (CPSC), who recently put out an advisory on how to protect against gaps within residential elevators.
From the advisory:
If you have an elevator in your home or in your vacation rental, make sure that the gap between doors is no more than four inches deep. If you are uncertain of the measurement or are otherwise concerned about the safety of the elevator, lock the elevator itself in an unusable position, or lock all access doors to the elevator. CPSC urges consumers to have a qualified elevator inspector examine their home elevator for this dangerous gap and other potential safety hazards, inspecting to the latest ASME A17.1, Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators. Dangerous gaps can be made safer by placing space guards on the back of the exterior (i.e., hoistway) door or installing an electronic monitoring device that deactivates the elevator when a child is detected in the gap. CPSC also urges consumers to contact their elevator manufacturer or an elevator installer to obtain these critical safety devices to address this hidden hazard. Elevator installers should never allow any gap greater than four inches deep to exist in an elevator entryway.
See here for the full CSPC alert. Hosts are reminded that by listing on Airbnb, you certify that you will follow your local laws and regulations.
Hosts can visit our Trust page to find best practices for safe hosting, and our Help Center for guidance on complying with state and federal regulations.