{"id":9815,"date":"2025-05-06T11:18:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T10:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.avire-global.com\/en-uk\/articles\/?p=9815"},"modified":"2025-05-06T11:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T10:19:13","slug":"managed-lift-emergency-communication-services-for-the-education-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.avire-global.com\/en-uk\/articles\/managed-lift-emergency-communication-services-for-the-education-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Managed Lift Emergency Communication Services Are Critical for the Education Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As revealed in a recent TechUK webinar<\/a> titled \u201cCalling Children\u2019s Services and Education, Are You Ready for the Digital Switchover?\u201d<\/em>, the UK education sector is facing urgent challenges in preparing for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch-off. Among the systems most at risk are lift emergency communications<\/strong>, which many schools and universities have yet to modernise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Davies from MEMCO by AVIRE<\/strong> attended the session, which featured speakers from the Department for Education, Openreach, Virgin Media and O2. He observed that while awareness is growing, too many institutions still lack a plan to protect critical safety infrastructure like lift alarms. With deadlines approaching, the call for managed lift emergency communication services for the education sector<\/strong> has never been more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the Education Sector Is Uniquely at Risk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

School estates often contain buildings from multiple eras, many of which still rely on outdated PSTN-connected autodiallers in lifts. Most institutions have little visibility into how their lifts are connected, or whether lines are analogue, digital or GSM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"managed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAudit, audit, audit. You can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t know exists.\u201d \u2013 Matthew Davies, MEMCO by AVIRE<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This lack of oversight is dangerous. Without modernisation, a lift autodialler could silently fail during a power outage, leaving someone trapped without the ability to call for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent audit-based study by D2E International<\/a>, covering 2,600 lifts across 20 UK portfolios, revealed that approximately 20% of all lifts had a safety or compliance issue at any given time. Alarmingly, 84% of these issues were directly linked to emergency battery failures, affecting critical systems like autodiallers, lighting, and passenger release. Notably, 10% of the lifts had autodiallers that became non-functional during a mains power failure, posing a serious risk to lift users reliant on emergency communication.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the PSTN Switch-Off Means for Schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The PSTN will be fully retired by January 2027, and a stop-sell on new analogue services is already in place. Changing telecom providers can now unintentionally trigger digital line upgrades, breaking compatibility with legacy lift systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For educational institutions, this presents a clear and immediate need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n