Do I Need A Wheelchair Lift for My Business?

 Making sure that your business premises provide genuine accessibility to your customers is more than just slamming a ramp outside the front of the building or painting a wheelchair on a few of your parking spaces. You should aim to offer as much access and ease of access as possible by installing a wheelchair lift. 

It is estimated that 54% of disabled people have problems visiting shops, while 34% face problems entering hospitals. Unbelievably, 63% of UK tourist attractions are not completely wheelchair accessible! These problems lead to almost 2% of the UK’s population not being able to enjoy the same access to places as able-bodied people, which leads to a huge proportion of country effectively being second class citizens. 

The wheelchair lift is a superb piece of equipment that provides an excellent ability to aid people suffering from mobility problems, by providing convenience and the ability to speedily traverse obstacles or floors. 

Nonetheless, installing and maintaining a wheelchair lift can be a significant investment for any business so you should think carefully before investing in one. Here are some of the reasons that you should choose to purchase one for your business’s premises:

Benefits With A Disabled Lifts

Greater Access For Customers

The greatest benefit of a wheelchair lift for your business is that it allows your customers and visitors access all areas of your building. The obvious advantage of this is that customers are able to access the products or services that you provide which means that they can buy them. People in wheelchairs can make up a significant amount of your business’s customer base - ignoring these people is foolish from a financial point of view. By offering greater access and easier access than your competitors you might be able to capture a large subset of customer that isn’t being catered for by similar companies. Many purchases are also made by customers perusing a shop rather than coming in directly to purchase something. By not offering potential customers this option you severely limiting your revenue. 

It is also worth noting that offering a customer experience that is non-stressful and comfortable is key to selling products and services - and ultimately keeping your business viable. Though the floor above might be technically accessible via wheelchair, if the customer has to put a lot of effort into reaching it (or have to make an effort in a public place which may make them feel uncomfortable), they won’t be inclined to bother.

Efficiency

The modern wheelchair lift is a technological marvel that is designed to accommodate a significant amount of weight while being fast, reliable and above all, convenient. 

Any wheelchair lift that you install will most probably be larger than a standard access lift, yet this does not mean that it will cost more money to run, maintain, or be slower. Because of single phase power consumption, a wheelchair lift has surprisingly low maintenance and running costs. If you factor in the extra revenue earned from 2% of customers seeing more of your products and services by being able to access another floor versus the cost of the wheelchair lift, most companies would find it worth it.

Security

Because of the nature of wheelchair lifts, the user does not have to get out of their chair to use the lift. As a result, the risk of injury to the user is a lot lower with a wheelchair lift as they can stay sitting down. If in the worst-case scenario someone falls out of their chair, the person will be less likely to get injured and thus create disruption in your store or even legal action. A wheelchair lift is a secure way to move over obstacles or between floors so that their carers, family and friends can rest assured that the user is safe.

Reputation

By installing a wheelchair lift you are saying you care about your customers and want to ensure that anyone can access your business. You are making provisions for people who have disabilities, which sends out a positive message to customers. Depending on the type of business that you run, having a positive inclusive image can only be a plus and drive more footfall into your premises.

Legal Issues

If your company provides goods and services, under the Equalities Act 2010 it is stated that you must make reasonable adjustments and reasonable access for disabled people, like offering additional help or making changes to the way you provide your services. This includes shops and all public facilities. 

What constitutes reasonable’ is contingent on a series of factors, such as the type of business that you run and the number of employees that you employ. An example of this would be being exempt from the legal requirement if you run a small independent company of fewer than ten employees as opposed to a big chain of coffee shops with thousands of employees.

Alfix Stairlifts - Experts At Stairlift Installation

We at Alfix Stairlifts understand the pain and burden that a loss of mobility can cause and how much of an effect it can produce on the quality of you or your family member’s daily life. Alfix Stairlifts record of past projects shows that we have the expertise and wealth experience guarantee that we are the region’s finest stairlift servicing business. We offer straight and curved stairlifts to seated and perched products, and our excellently trained stairlift workers provide only the best advice for our customer’s particular situation. 

By stocking a huge and varied collection of brand new, used and rental stairlifts for all our clients, we offer the exact piece for you. Our stairlift costs are unbeatable. Because we operate independently, unlike many of our competitors, we offer only honest and unbiased views on what products to sell - we only choose the best stairlifts around! Thanks to the independent status of our business, we aren’t biased towards certain products which means that we only choose the best stairlifts around. If you are searching for unbeatable stair installation and reliable chairlift fixing services, Alfix Stairlifts offer the quality that you require. 

Alfix Stairlift is based across the locations the West Midlands, Gloucestershire,

Worcestershire counties and offer only the finest levels of customer service and a steadfast commitment to quality. The staff that we employ offer excellent and qualified help so that you get the exact product that your situation requires. With our free home visits and assessments, we’ll get the mobility option that you need. Alfix is honoured to say that we have built a superb reputation in the industry over the years that we have been in operation, as experienced, knowledgeable and endlessly helpful. 

We think that staying at the forefront of technological developments is very important; this is why we make every effort to ensure that all our products are up-to-date. Alfix Stairway is a company that hires only the most hard-working staff to make sure that its clients are always well cared for. As we employ experienced and highly trained staff, we are proud to say that our levels of service are as good as our reputation - perhaps even better! 

If you have any questions or would just like to talk to a member of customer service, please call us on 0800 298 8245 or email us via our contact page. We also have a range of stores across England, with stores in Worcester, Leicester, Gloucester, Oxford, Northampton, Leamington, Coventry, Solihull, Banbury and Redditch.