Design Rules🔧 Building Services

Stretcher Lift — Minimum Car Size

Lift car size to accommodate a hospital stretcher
See also📖 NBC 2016🔗 NBC 2016🔗 IS 14665🧮 RCC Design📒 Handbook Topic
1.10 × 2.40
m
LIFT CAR13 person / 884 kg1.10 m2.40 mSTRETCHER LIFT
Primary value1.10 × 2.40 m
Applies toHigh-rise residential buildings · Hospitals · Hotels · Tall mixed-use
ExceptionsMin capacity13 persons / 884 kg
Door opening1.10 m clear
Hospitals (Mandatory)NBC 2016 mandates at least two larger lifts: Type 20 (1.5m x 2.4m, 20p) or Type 26 (1.8m x 2.4m, 26p) to fit hospital beds.
Universal Accessibility GuidelinesThe Harmonized Guidelines for Universal Accessibility (2021) recommend a minimum internal car size of 1.2m x 2.4m for stretcher lifts in healthcare facilities.
Measured asInternal car dimensions: width × depth, with door on the short (1.10 m) side to allow stretcher to enter parallel to long axis.
SourceNBC 2016NBC 2016, Part 8, Section 5A, Cl. 5.1.2; IS 14665 (Part 3/Sec 1)
📚 Cross-referenced
Why this matters

In a medical emergency or fire, evacuating an immobile person requires a stretcher. A standard passenger lift (often 1.1 m × 1.4 m) cannot accommodate a ~2.0 m long stretcher. NBC 2016 recommends at least one stretcher-accommodating lift in all high-rise buildings (>15m) and mandates them in hospitals.

Typical practice

Often designated as the 'Fireman's Lift' and marked with a stretcher symbol as per IS 15259. This lift must have fire-rated doors, a separate power supply from a standby generator, and be connected to the building's fire alarm system.

← All Thumbrules