Is the door-reopen fault a LOLER matter?

If the light curtain or safety edge is faulty, yes — it is a safety-critical component and its failure must be recorded on the LOLER report. If the door simply times out and reopens because of a long unload, no — that is a traffic profile matter.

How often should light curtains be cleaned in a busy commercial lift?

Weekly in a heavily-used passenger lift, monthly in a moderate-use lift, and quarterly in a low-use lift or goods-only lift. Include it in the routine cleaning schedule — the door engineer callout to diagnose a dirty lens is expensive.

The door reopens only when specific tenants use the lift. Why?

Almost always because those tenants carry equipment (walking sticks, dogs on long leads, floppy shopping bags) that breaks the light curtain. Not a fault; the light curtain is doing its job.

Can we shorten the door-open time to speed up the lift?

The FM team can request this on the next controller review, but there are legal minimums for accessible-lift door-open times under Approved Document M. Do not go below those minimums to gain a few seconds.

The doors close and reopen without anyone in the doorway. Ghost?

No — a light-curtain lens has drifted or has a contaminant. In sunlit lobbies, direct sunlight can occasionally saturate a light-curtain receiver and cause a false trip; the engineer will fit a shroud.

Commercial Lift Doors Reopen: UK Fix Guide

Commercial lift doors keep reopening: causes

A UK commercial lift with doors that close then bounce back is almost always seeing a phantom obstruction — a dirty light curtain, a mis-aligned safety edge, or genuinely something in the doorway that everyone is walking past.

Real obstructions first

Before calling an engineer, prove there is no genuine obstruction:

Look at the sill for post, receipts, gum wrappers, cable ties from a recent delivery.
Check the door edges for anything trapped — a strap, a scarf end, a shopping bag handle.
On the car side, check for anything leaning on the door from inside — a fire extinguisher moved by a previous rider, a delivery trolley too close to the door edge.

Light curtain contamination

UK commercial lift doors use a full-height infrared light curtain (Otis, KONE, Schindler, TK) with lenses on both jambs. Dirt on any lens will break a beam and reverse the door. This is a routine cleaning item on the monthly building maintenance schedule:

Safe to check yourself

Isolate the lift at the machine-room isolator, not just at the car — a moving door will amputate fingers.
Wipe each lens with a dry microfibre cloth. Both jambs, top to bottom.
Do not use any solvent, damp cloth or glass cleaner — even Isopropyl on light-curtain lenses degrades the coating over months.
Return to service.

Safety-edge trips

Some UK commercial lifts also have a pressure strip on the leading edge of each door, redundant to the light curtain. A damaged edge (a delivery trolley reversed into the door, a wheelchair footplate scraped past) will trigger nuisance reopens. Damage is visible — a torn or squashed rubber strip is your diagnosis. Replacement is a service-visit part.

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Door-time settings and rush-hour crowds

Modern commercial-lift controllers can adjust door-open time based on traffic. In heavy use, the door-open timer may extend to accommodate wheelchair or trolley riders, which can look like the door ‘reopening’ when it simply hasn't closed yet. Check with the FM team whether recent controller updates have altered these settings.

Alignment and drift

Commercial lift doors take physical abuse over years. Symptoms of alignment drift:

Door closes fully but the light curtain still reports a break — receiver has drifted off axis from the emitter.
Door closes with a bang rather than a soft stop — the door operator's slow-approach zone has drifted.
Door reopens on the same side every time — that side's sensor is failing.

All of these are competent-engineer only on a commercial installation.

Escalation criteria

Stop — call an engineer

Take the lift out of service and log a callout if:

Doors reopen on more than one in ten trips over a full day.
Any user reports being struck by a closing door.
Doors close with visible force change (softer or harder) than usual.
The fault is intermittent and getting worse over days.

Frequently asked questions

Is the door-reopen fault a LOLER matter?: If the light curtain or safety edge is faulty, yes — it is a safety-critical component and its failure must be recorded on the LOLER report. If the door simply times out and reopens because of a long unload, no — that is a traffic profile matter.
How often should light curtains be cleaned in a busy commercial lift?: Weekly in a heavily-used passenger lift, monthly in a moderate-use lift, and quarterly in a low-use lift or goods-only lift. Include it in the routine cleaning schedule — the door engineer callout to diagnose a dirty lens is expensive.
The door reopens only when specific tenants use the lift. Why?: Almost always because those tenants carry equipment (walking sticks, dogs on long leads, floppy shopping bags) that breaks the light curtain. Not a fault; the light curtain is doing its job.
Can we shorten the door-open time to speed up the lift?: The FM team can request this on the next controller review, but there are legal minimums for accessible-lift door-open times under Approved Document M. Do not go below those minimums to gain a few seconds.
The doors close and reopen without anyone in the doorway. Ghost?: No — a light-curtain lens has drifted or has a contaminant. In sunlit lobbies, direct sunlight can occasionally saturate a light-curtain receiver and cause a false trip; the engineer will fit a shroud.