Give career a lift with this job full of ups and downs.

What does a career as a lift engineer involve?

Lift engineers, also known as lift technicians, install, refurbish, service and repair electrical and hydraulic lifts and escalators. They also work on stairlifts, vehicle mounted lifts, restaurant 'dumb waiters' and patient hoists such as those found in hospitals and nursing homes.

As a lift engineer, your day-to-day duties could include making routine checks on gears, motors, overload detection devices, brakes, doors and locks, plus carrying out minor repairs or isolating problems until a fuller service can be done.

You would also respond to emergency breakdown call-outs, installing and fitting out lifts, lifting gear and lift wells as well as demon- strating new equipment to clients.

Part of your work would be to in-speclift equipment to make sure that it meets relevant health and safety regulations, and to produce risk assessment reports and documentation for insurance and legal purposes.

In lift design work, you would use computer aided design (CAD) software to produce customised lifts, for example panoramic lifts (lifts with glass panels), like those found in an atrium or on the outside of a building. What personal skills do you need?

You need skills in electrical and/or mechanical work, excellent problemsolving skills and an understanding of engineering drawings and principles.

Good communication and customer care skills are needed and the ability to work without close supervision, IT skills for updating records and writing reports, plus an awareness of industry guidelines on health and safety.

What training do you need? You normally need experience and/or qualifications in mechanical or electrical engineering to get into this kind of work.

Relevant courses include BTEC National Certificate and Diploma in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, or Operations and Maintenance Engineering; BTEC National Certificate and Diploma in Building Services Engineering; City & Guilds awards in Electrotechnical Tech- nology, and Cer-tificatin Engin- eering. You may be able to get into this job by starting as an engineering apprentice.

What are the opportunities for career progression?

Once you start working, you will do most of your training on the job. You can work towards a range of NVQ awards, including Installation and Commissioning, and Engineering Maintenance and Installation.

These have options in lift (traction and hydraulic), escalator installation, repair and servicing.

You would also have to keep up-todate with health and safety, and legal guidelines covering the industry. What is the salary?

(Guideline only) Starting between pounds 14,000 and pounds 18,000; experienced engineers between pounds 19,000 and pounds 26,000; senior engineers can earn up to pounds 30,000.

More information . Lift & Escalator Industry Association, www.leia.co.uk. SEMTA (Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance), www.semta. org. uk. Safety Assessment Federation, www.safed.co.uk. www.careersadvice. direct. gov. uk. Details provided for information only. Jobs not necessarily available.