oSIST prEN 81-28:2025

• Abstract:

  This document specifies the technical requirements for the two-way communication system of passenger and goods passenger lifts, to communicate with a receiving equipment.; This document is not applicable to lifts installed before the date of its publication.

• Status: Not Published
• Public Enquiry End Date: 11-Dec-2025
• ICS: 13.320 - Alarm and warning systems
• ICS: 91.140.90 - Lifts. Escalators
• Technical Committee: DTN - Lift and transport appliances
• Current Stage: 4020 - Public enquire (PE) (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 08-Oct-2025
• Due Date: 25-Feb-2026
• Completion Date: 10-Dec-2025
• Directive: 2014/33/EU - Directive 2014/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to lifts and safety components for lifts (recast)
• Mandate: M/599 - Standardisation Request in support of Directive 2014/33/EU
• Ref Project: FprEN 81-28 - Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts - Lifts for the transport of persons and goods - Part 28: Two-way communication system

• Revises: SIST EN 81-28:2022 - Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts - Lifts for the transport of persons and goods - Part 28: Remote alarm on passenger and goods passenger lifts
• Effective Date: 22-Nov-2023

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 is the SIST page for draft European Standard prEN 81-28. It specifies technical requirements for the two-way communication system in passenger and goods passenger lifts so users can contact reception equipment. The document is for lift designers, manufacturers, installers, maintainers, and safety or market-surveillance bodies that need to check emergency communication, signals, and verification.

What does oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 specify?

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 sets requirements for the two-way communication system used in passenger and goods passenger lifts to communicate with reception equipment. It applies to lifts in service after publication and is not applicable to lifts installed before that date.

The document is organized into:

• Scope
• Normative references
• Terms and definitions
• Safety requirements and/or protective/risk reduction measures
• Information for use
• Verification of the safety requirements and/or protective measures
• Annex ZA and a bibliography

Annex	What it covers
Annex ZA	Relationship between this European Standard and the essential requirements of Directive 2014/33/EU

What are the key requirements of oSIST prEN 81-28:2025?

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 focuses on how the communication system is initiated, how it reaches reception equipment, how it stays usable during power loss, and how it is checked. The practical result is a lift communication function that can be found, activated, verified, and understood by rescue services and maintenance staff.

Initiation device and alert

Clause 4.2.1 requires at least one initiation device in the car, placed within a reachable height range and marked in yellow with a specified symbol. In practice, passengers must be able to find and operate the device quickly in an emergency.

Clause 4.2.2 links alert activation to operation of the initiation device and any permitted filtering. This means brief accidental touches can be ignored, but a real call must still start the alert.

Filtering and communication

Clause 4.2.3 limits filtering to initiation devices in the car and only in defined lift conditions. It also requires a way to disable filtering and prevents filtering while an alert is already active. In practice, this avoids unwanted calls during normal lift movement while protecting a genuine emergency call.

Clause 4.2.4 requires the system to send the lift identification to reception equipment and to treat the call as successful only after acknowledgement. If contact is not established within five minutes, the system must switch to alternative reception equipment. This matters because the rescue service needs to know which lift is calling.

Clause 4.2.5 requires two-way voice communication after successful initiation, and re-initiation if speech is interrupted before the alert ends. This keeps the rescue link active until the situation is resolved.

Ending the alert, power, and testing

Clause 4.2.6 allows the alert to end only by intentional reset on site or by request from reception equipment. This prevents accidental clearing of an emergency state.

Clause 4.2.7 requires the system to keep working through power failure, restoration, and cycling, with emergency supply for one hour of functioning including 15 minutes of two-way voice communication. If that capacity cannot be maintained, the system must inform reception equipment and indicate it at the installation.

Clause 4.2.8 requires automatic testing at least every three days using the same communication path as a real call. Failed tests must be indicated. In practice, this gives a regular check that the rescue connection still works.

Signals and instructions

Clause 4.2.9 requires acoustic and optical signals in the car: an audible alert before voice communication, a yellow symbol during alert, and a green symbol during two-way voice communication. Clause 5 requires instructions to cover manual testing, parameter changes, failure recognition, signals, reset, and how to verify test results. That is the information maintenance teams and owners need for day-to-day checks.

What terms does oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 define?

• Alert - the two-way communication state that begins when the system has been activated and continues until it is reset or ended.
• Reception equipment - equipment outside the lift that can handle the two-way communication.
• Initiation device - the in-car control used to start the communication process.
• Two-way communication system - the lift system that sets up and maintains the rescue contact path.
• Two-way voice communication - spoken communication between the car and reception equipment after the link is established.
• Filtering - logic that prevents unnecessary alert activation under defined conditions.
• Emergency supply - the backup power arrangement that keeps the communication function operating during loss of normal power.

Who uses oSIST prEN 81-28:2025?

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 is relevant to machine manufacturers, health and safety bodies, machine users and employers, machine users and employees, service providers for maintenance, and consumers where lifts are intended for consumer use. In practice, manufacturers and installers use it to design the communication system, maintenance providers use it for checks and fault finding, and regulators or market-surveillance bodies use it to assess safety claims.

What changed in oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 from the previous edition?

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 supersedes EN 81-28:2022. The document states these changes:

• editorial corrections to improve understanding
• replacement of the term “alarm” status with “alert” status
• replacement of “alarm system” and “alarm equipment” with “two-way communication system”
• clarification and streamlining of requirements
• changes in verification of safety requirements and/or protective measures
• update of Annex ZA

Which standards are used with oSIST prEN 81-28:2025?

• EN ISO 12100:2010 - provides the general principles for risk assessment and risk reduction, and supplies the terms and definitions used in Clause 3.
• ISO 4190-5:2006 - provides lift installation information for control devices, signals, and additional fittings, including the symbols referenced for the initiation and status indicators.
• ISO 7000:2019 - supplies registered graphical symbols used for the car symbols in Clause 4.
• IEC 60417:2025 - supplies graphical symbols for equipment, also used for the car symbols in Clause 4.
• EN ISO 8100-1:- - is the companion part named in the foreword and provides the basic requirements for passenger and goods passenger lifts.
• CEN/TR 81-10:2008 - describes the structure of the EN 81 series.

What does the oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 document contain?

oSIST prEN 81-28:2025 contains a clause on safety requirements for the initiation device, alert activation, filtering, communication setup, two-way voice communication, alert ending, emergency supply, automatic testing, and optical and acoustic signals in the lift car. It also contains a verification table that links each requirement to the way it is checked, such as visual inspection, performance test, measurement, drawing or calculation review, and review of user information.

Annex ZA links the standard to essential requirements in Directive 2014/33/EU and also shows correspondence with Directive 2006/42/EC and Regulation (EU) 2023/1230. For a reader, that means the document is not just about design features - it also shows how those features are verified and how they relate to EU legal requirements.

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-december-2025
Varnostna pravila za konstruiranje in vgradnjo dvigal (liftov) - Dvigala za prevoz
oseb in blaga - 28. del: Dvosmerni komunikacijski sistem za stik z reševalno ekipo
Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts - Lifts for the transport of persons
and goods - Part 28: Twoway communication system to contact a rescue service
Sicherheitsregeln für die Konstruktion und den Einbau von Aufzügen - Aufzüge für den
Personen- und Gütertransport - Teil 28: Zwei-WegeKommunikationssystem zur
Verbindung mit einem Rettungsdienst
Règles de sécurité pour la construction et l'installation des élévateurs - Élévateur pour le
transport de personnes et d'objets - Partie 28 : Système de communication
bidirectionnelle permettant d¿obtenir une liaison permanente avec un service d¿intervent
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 81-28
ICS:
13.320 Alarmni in opozorilni sistemi Alarm and warning systems
91.140.90 Dvigala. Tekoče stopnice Lifts. Escalators
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
prEN 81-28
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
September 2025
ICS 13.320; 91.140.90 Will supersede EN 81-28:2022
English Version
Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts -
Lifts for the transport of persons and goods - Part 28: Two-
way communication system
Règles de sécurité pour la construction et l'installation Sicherheitsregeln für die Konstruktion und den Einbau
des élévateurs - Élévateur pour le transport de von Aufzügen - Aufzüge für den Personen- und
personnes et d'objets - Partie 28 : système de Gütertransport - Teil 28: Zwei-Wege-
communication bidirectionnelle Kommunikationssystem
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 10.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 81-28:2025 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

prEN 81-28:2025 (E)
Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 4
2 Normative references . 4
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Safety requirements and/or protective/risk reduction measures . 5
4.1 Introduction . 5
4.2 Two-way communication system. 5
4.2.1 Initiation device . 5
4.2.2 Alert activation . 5
4.2.3 Filtering . 6
4.2.4 Initiation of communication . 6
4.2.5 Two-way voice communication . 6
4.2.6 End of alert . 6
4.2.7 Emergency supply . 6
4.2.8 Automatic test . 7
4.2.9 Optical and acoustic signals in the lift car . 7
5 Information for use . 8
6 Verification of the safety requirements and/or protective measures . 8
Annex ZA (informative) Relationship between this European Standard and the essential
requirements of Directive 2014/33/EU aimed to be covered . 10
Bibliography . 12

prEN 81-28:2025 (E)
European foreword
This document (prEN 81-28:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 10 “Lifts,
escalators and moving walks”, the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document will supersede EN 81-28:2022.
EN 81-28:2025 includes the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 81-28:2022:
— editorial corrections to assist in understanding;
— replaced term “alarm” status to “alert” status;
— replaced term “alarm system” and “alarm equipment” to “two-way communication system”;
— clarification and streamlining of requirements;
— changes in verification of the safety requirements and/or protective measures;
— the Annex ZA has been updated.
This document is intended to be used in conjunction with EN ISO 8100-1:— , which gives the basic
requirements for passenger and goods passenger lifts.
This document is part of the EN 81 series of standards. The structure of the EN 81 series is described in
CEN/TR 81-10:2008.
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European
Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its
Member States.
For the relationship with EU Legislation, see informative Annex ZA, which is an integral part of this
document.
Under preparation. Stage at the time of publication: prEN ISO 8100-1:2024.
prEN 81-28:2025 (E)
Introduction
This document is a type-C standard as stated in EN ISO 12100:2010.
This document is of relevance, in particular, for the following stakeholder groups representing the market
players with regard to machinery safety:
— machine manufacturers (small, medium and large enterprises);
— health and safety bodies (regulators, accident prevention organizations, market surveillance etc.).
Others can be affected by the level of machinery safety achieved with the means of the document by the
above-mentioned stakeholder groups:
— machine users/employers (small, medium and large enterprises);
— machine users/employees (e.g. trade unions, organizations for people with special needs);
— service providers, e.g. for maintenance (small, medium and large enterprises);
— consumers (in case of machinery intended for use by consumers).
The above-mentioned stakeholder groups have been given the possibility to participate in the drafting
process of this document.
The machinery concerned and the extent to which hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events are
covered are indicated in the Scope of this document.
When requirements of this type C standard are different from those which are stated in type A or type B
standards, the requirements of this type C standard take precedence over the requirements of the other
standards for machines that have been designed and built according to the requirements of this type C
standard.
1 Scope
This document specifies the technical requirements for the two-way communication system of passenger
and goods passenger lifts, to communicate with a reception equipment.
This document is not applicable to lifts installed before the date of its publication.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN ISO 12100:2010, Safety of machinery — General principles for design — Risk assessment and risk
reduction (ISO 12100:2010)
ISO 4190-5:2006, Lift (Elevator) installation — Part 5: Control devices, signals and additional fittings
ISO 7000:2019, Graphical symbols for use on equipment — Registered symbols
IEC 60417:2025, Database — Graphical symbols for use on equipment
prEN 81-28:2025 (E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN ISO 12100:2010 and the
following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology d
...