A simple design addition could make lifts usable for evacuation during a fire in high-rise apartments, a Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher has found.

A study by Than Singh Sharma, from the School of Urban Development, has challenged the belief that lifts cannot be used for fire evacuation from tall residential buildings.

Mr Sharma said buildings were getting taller and it was not possible to evacuate aged and disabled people promptly and efficiently using stairs alone.   

His research, based on a 38-storey apartment building, found the risk of smoke inhalation was the main reason lifts were not safe during fire evacuation, not potential lift breakdown.

"The research showed that where lift lobbies were protected by two doors: a fire door and a smoke door, it is possible the entire building's occupants could be evacuated by lifts," Mr Sharma said.

"With the addition of fire door protection of the lift lobby, up to a quarter of the building's population, including the aged and disabled residents, can be evacuated."

Mr Sharma said the smoke door in a two-door (smoke and fire door) system could be left open in non-emergency times to allow easy access to the lifts but closed in times of fire.

His research considered the factors of human psychological and physiological responses such as panic, indecisiveness in time of fire and deaths caused by poor visibility, toxic gases and elevated temperature as the result of fires.

He also studied lift operational mechanisms such as water damage in the lift system, lift malfunctioning and electric power failure in his risk assessment modelling.

"Residents would have to be aware of the evacuation procedure for their building and know the nearest evacuation routes such as stairs and lifts," Mr Sharma said.

"With the proper implementation of fire protection measures and evacuation procedures, a combined stair-lift evacuation means will result in more efficient evacuation and save lives in potentially disastrous situations in tall buildings."

He said evacuation by lifts could work in residential apartments and the research could further be extended to other types of buildings such as hotels and offices.

"Apartments are discrete units and fires are generally isolated from other units whereas office spaces are usually open and therefore the fire spreads more widely and smoke can quickly infiltrate the lobby area," he added.