Mezzanine goods lifts: what are the options?

Why add a goods lift?

Carrying boxes up a staircase is slow, tiring and a common cause of manual handling injuries. On a busy storage or picking mezzanine, a goods lift lets staff move stock, totes and trolleys between levels in one trip, and keeps the stairs clear for people. Stannah, one of the UK’s lift makers, frames it as a manual handling issue under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations.

A lift is not the only option. Pallets usually go up by forklift through a pallet gate, and long runs of small items can go by conveyor. But where goods are too heavy to carry and too small or frequent for a forklift, a lift is often the answer.

The main types of mezzanine lift

Stannah’s guide sets out a range that most makers follow in some form:

• Dumbwaiters and microlifts: small, waist-height cars for boxes, files and parts. Goods only.
• Trolley service lifts: floor-level cars that take a loaded cage or trolley. Goods only.
• Goods-only lifts: larger cars for heavier loads, with controls outside the car so nobody rides in it.
• Goods-attendant lifts: a person may travel with the load, so the car has internal controls and emergency communication.
• Heavy-duty goods lifts: for pallets, machinery and loads of 1,000 kg and more.
• Passenger or platform lifts: for people, including wheelchair users, which can also carry goods.

Stannah says its smaller goods-only models suit loads of 500 kg or less.

Choosing the right size

Start from the load, not the lift. Ask:

1. What is the heaviest single item or trolley, and what does it measure?
2. How many trips an hour at the busiest time?
3. Will anyone need to travel with the load?
4. Is there a step-free route to the lift on both levels?
5. Will the lift serve one mezzanine or several levels?

The answers decide the car size, capacity and type, and whether a passenger-rated lift is needed.

The rules that apply

Which product regulations?

Lifts are covered by one of two sets of regulations, depending mainly on speed. Stannah explains that products travelling faster than 0.15 metres per second, and carrying people, fall under the Lifts Regulations 2016, while slower goods and service lifts fall under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. Your supplier should confirm which applies and provide the declaration of conformity.

Inspections once it is in use

Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), regulation 9, lifting equipment exposed to wear must be thoroughly examined by a competent person:

• at least every 6 months if it lifts people
• at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment
• or in line with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person

Build the cost of these examinations, and of a service contract, into your budget.

The mezzanine must carry the lift

A lift adds loads to the mezzanine and the slab, and the landing on the deck takes concentrated wheel and trolley loads. Western Industrial lists 4.8 kN/m² for general storage and 6.0 kN/m² for pallet racking; tell the installer about the lift at design stage so the floor and the opening are designed for it, not adapted afterwards.

What a mezzanine goods lift costs

Lift makers rarely publish full prices, because the cost depends on capacity, number of stops, shaft or enclosure, finishes and site work. Stannah gives one public figure: its mezzanine goods lifts start at £7,000 for dumbwaiters. Larger goods-only, goods-attendant and passenger lifts are quoted after a site visit and cost considerably more.

For comparison, a pallet gate, which lets a forklift load pallets onto the deck safely, is listed by F.H. Brundle at £974.90 excluding VAT for a 1500 mm wide gate, before fitting.

These prices were read on 26 October 2026, exclude VAT and are a guide, not a quote. Our mezzanine floor cost calculator prices the floor itself, with pallet gates as an option.

Planning the lift with the mezzanine

• Decide on the lift before the layout is fixed, so the column grid leaves room for it.
• Put it where goods arrive, near goods in or a packing area, not at the far end of the floor.
• Keep the landing clear of the staircase and the pallet gate.
• Ask who supplies and installs the lift: some mezzanine installers do, others bring in a lift company.

If you are planning a warehouse mezzanine or a factory mezzanine, mention the lift when you ask for quotes. Our free service can find a mezzanine floor installer who covers your area and can include it in the design.