The average weight of Britons has increased by around 10 kilograms for both men and women over the past half-century, but design standards for elevators and other public facilities have not been updated for decades, reducing their effective capacity, according to a new study.
The Sun reported Tuesday that a research team led by Professor Nick Finer of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation tracked load limits of 112 elevators across seven European countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, over a 50-year period.
The analysis showed that between 1972 and 2002, the per-person load standard for elevators was raised from 62 kilograms to 75 kilograms, broadly keeping pace with rising body weights. Since 2002, however, the standard has remained frozen while actual weights have continued to climb.
The gap is stark. In the mid-1970s, the average British man weighed 75 kilograms and the average woman 65 kilograms, but those figures have since risen to 86 kilograms and 73 kilograms, respectively. Average waist size has also grown to 37 inches from 34 inches over the same period. The adult obesity rate in the UK currently stands at about 30 percent, with 16 million people classified as obese.
Finer cited a reduction in passenger capacity as a direct consequence of the frozen load standard. Even at the same rated load, fewer people can ride at once because each passenger has become heavier. He also pointed out that current elevator designs still assume passengers occupy a circular cross-section. As obesity rates rise, the actual floor space occupied by passengers grows, but this has not been reflected in the design phase.
The problem is not limited to elevators. Train and aircraft seats, doorway widths and other public facilities remain designed around body dimensions set decades ago. Southwest Airlines in the United States advises passengers who cannot comfortably fit into a single seat to book two, while Air France offers a discounted fare on the second seat for such passengers.
"There is no possibility that today's body shapes will revert to those of 50 years ago," said Jane DeVille-Almond, chair of the British Obesity Society, calling for facility standards to be redesigned around current physical dimensions. Finer also stressed that the daily inconveniences obese people face at public facilities, combined with social stigma, can take a toll on their mental health.
