Creating better safety Stairlift standards

The largest Stairlift Company in the world is Acorn Stairlifts. They are based in Yorkshire with

three manufacturing centers in Britain producing over 60,000 Stairlifts annually. With this kind

of capacity, Acorn installs a Stairlift every eight minutes somewhere in the world. They have

offices in over 80 countries. With such a global reach, there are a few instances of issues aired on

Acorn Stairlifts complaints sections in online communities. While most of these comments

pertain to deficiency in service it quickly becomes clear the person behind these complaints

could be the same person or entity considering the name Anonymous being the common factor.

To the reader of these comments it appears as if a concentrated troll attack is aimed, towards this

Stairlift manufacturing company.

Digging further via search engine query produced a single result of two pensioners receiving

fatal injuries because of accidents caused by the crashing Stairlift. Recently the coroner delivered

the judgement that laid the blame on faulty welding of the seat posts of the Stairlifts. Acorn

Stairlifts expressed their grief extending condolences to the family and immediately took

corrective action of recalling 250 units after investigations proved that the welding was done at

Taiwan and there was no way for inspection engineers during installation to notice the defect.

Acorn detected 38 Stairlifts had faulty welding. Checks and balances in Acorn manufacturing

undergo nearly 30 inspections during the manufacturing process in England. During installation,

further 37-point checklist is undertaken. In 20 years of Acorn manufacturing these were the only

two instances that were detected. Acorn Stairlifts have strengthened their inspection to avoid any

such accidents not only to address issues arising out of Acorn Stairlift complaints but more

towards achieving zero defects in the products they manufacture.

Every Stairlift is tested for a minimum of 25000 return journeys based on research findings that a

Stairlift is used for about 6 return journeys per day. This means that Stairlifts are tested for a 11-

year cycle.. These stringent production and management practices have produced the ISO 9001

quality management certification as well as environmental managementcertification ISO 14001.