An inquiry board has criticised the slow response time of St Vincent de Paul residence’s technical staff after they left a group of five people stuck in a lift for 45 minutes.

The emergency brake kicks in when the cabin exceeds the safe speed

The staff had attended another lift malfunction with trapped people in another block, leaving the others waiting.

“The board considers the response time of the SVDR maintenance to this incident to be unacceptable,” the board said, adding that systems should be in place to have a maximum response time of 15 minutes.

The incident took place on October 7, when a lift at the Serenity Ward stopped with five people trapped inside at 5.45pm. They were freed three-and-a-half hours later.

Just as the lift started moving downwards from the second floor, the emergency brake kicked in, causing it to stop between the second and first floors.

A security officer kept talking to them and offered them water and food. He also set up fans next to a small open gap for ventilation.

The investigation confirmed there was “no equipment failure” – the lift was in overload and the emergency brake kicked in “because it is designed to do so when the lift cabin exceeds the safe speed”.

The overload device was not operational and “it is unclear whether it was ever operational”. In its recommendations, the inquiry board said the residence’s technical personnel should be better trained on the engineering aspects of lifts.

There should also be a comprehensive preventive maintenance programme.

The lift had moved in an overload state because it was not equipped with either a visual or audio overload warning or with a safety device to disable its operation.

It was installed in 2001 when an overload device was not obligatory. However, a 2007 legal notice requires that lifts installed and in service before 2002 have to undergo thorough examinations until 2013, and then be modernised and their safety improved.

A spokesman for the Elderly Parliamentary Secretariat said the lifts in St Vincent de Paul were being upgraded.

The overload device on Serenity Block lifts was installed and all other lifts will be upgraded this year, the spokesman said.