No more lift door bumps

We've all been there: someone dashes for the closing lift doors; a passenger jabs at the vaguely and ambiguously signed buttons, hits the wrong one -- as its a guessing game -- and the doors close on the person who wants to get in.

No one's fault except the adherence to a very poorly designed standard.

The ambiguity is created by a dominant centre line for each operation. It shows ambiguously the sought state of the doors (line indicating closed stiles) and the current state (line indicating the closed stiles). The only differentiator is the small and triangle 'arrow heads' that are positioned to show the direction of door movement. However, this meaning takes some working out, particularly for people with visual or vision impairment, and have just had their view of the symbols dominated by the strong 'closed' stile vertical lines.

The bad design

 

 

Good alternatives

Better

Best

All the alternatives are instantly and obviously differentiated and are clearly mimetic of the desired state to be achieved by pressing the relevant button.

Safe balustrades

A balustrade should not be confused with a hand rail. They have different functions.

A hand rail is a support, at convenient hand height, to assist someone to safely use stairs or ramps.

A balustrade is a barrier to prevent falls from heights on balconies or stairs. The effective height for a balustrade is based on a person’s centre of gravity, not their hand height.

Balustrades also play a part in preventing the discomfort and feeling of danger that some people feel at height.

A hand rail is best positioned for most people between 700mm and 900mm above floor level, or step nosing.

A balustrade at a minimum should be 1100mm high, but preferably 1200mm. At heights above two stories the balustrade should be 1300mm high.

At 1200mm falls due to pivoting around a person’s centre of gravity should be impossible; at 1300mm falls due to other factors, including accidental or intentional collisions should be largely eliminated.

 The male 95% centre of gravity is about 1100mm, based on a height of 188cms.

Below is an illustration from Sutherland Council's rules about protective railing around swimming pools and at retaining walls.

 

These rules  pay attention to the reality of people's height and the implications for falls prevention of the centre of gravity.

I've another piece on this topic related to high rise commercial buildings.