Elevator Maintenance
1. All registered elevating devices must be maintained in accordance with the Safety Code for Elevators.
2. The elevator maintenance company will provide a logbook in the elevator machine room as required by the Safety Code for Elevators.
3. A licensed elevator mechanic will check your elevating system and will initial and date the logbook to show compliance to the Safety Code for Elevators. Five years of log books must remain on site at all times.
4. Most elevator maintenance companies also keep an electronic version of the maintenance schedule to ensure that the maintenance is completed.
Elevator Call Backs
1. Elevators can experience noises, vibrations and shut downs between elevator maintenance visits. Verification of information is important for your elevator maintenance company to prioritize the call.
2. The elevator maintenance company will prioritize safety issues first.
3. Some issues may be solved without the need for calling your elevator maintenance company.
Below is a checklist to follow before calling for service:
• If someone appears to be trap-ped, verify the situation personally before calling for service.
• If there appears to be personal injury caused by the elevator equipment such as a trip and fall, contact the maintaining elevator contractor immediately and contact the TSSA immediately.
• If an elevator is not responding, verify personally that a passenger is not simply holding it up or that there is not something blocking the door and confirm that all key switches are in their proper positions.
• If the elevator is sitting at a floor with its door opening and closing, check for debris in the door tracks that might be jamming the door.
As technology changes, the Safety Code for Elevators is continually updated but many of the upgraded safety features are grandfathered. The new safety features are required on new and upgraded equipment but not required if the elevator is not refurbished. To keep the elevator system operating as safely as possible, the building should plan on upgrading the elevators.
Complete Elevator Modernization
1.The life span of an elevator under normal use is 20 to 25 years. Many elevators are much older than this. Elevators can experience intermittent problems caused by such things as brittle wires, some components wear out and cannot be purchased any more.
2. Technology has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. Many of the older systems will not level accurately in comparison with today’s standards. Occupants not understanding that they are riding in an older elevator may trip and fall if the elevator does not level like a new or upgraded system.
3. A modernized elevator, where the elevator controller and all wiring is changed will have a leveling accuracy within 2 mm, all safety circuits will be duplicated in the controller for additional safety, elevators will have up fall protection.
4. Elevator modernization should be budgeted and scheduled to keep your system operating as safely as possible.
Hydraulic Cylinder Replacement
1. A hydraulic elevator that does not have a protective plastic casing around buried hydraulic cylinder may fall.
2. The hydraulic cylinder can corrode creating a hole in the cylinder. The elevator is lifted by oil in the cylinder pushing a piston up (with the elevator cab attached). If the cylinder corrodes, oil is released into the ground and the elevator can fall.
3. The risk of corrosion affecting hydraulic elevators is greater on hydraulic elevators installed before April 1992 when a new requirement for corrosion protection by means of a protective plastic casing was introduced into the Elevator Safety Code.
4. The risk of catastrophic cylinder failure is even greater on hydraulic elevators installed before August 1978 when a new requirement for a safety bulkhead was introduced into the Elevator Safety Code. All hydraulic cylinder installations before April 1992 were grandfathered and were not required to have the protective plastic casing.
Machine Room Temperature
1. Elevators do not work well and can cause safety issues including entrapments, shut downs and mislevelling if the elevator machine room is too hot, too cold or too humid.
2. As a rule of thumb, the elevator machine room should be kept at normal room temperature for best operation of the elevator equipment. Most elevator equipment will work within the range 10°C–32°C (50°F–90°F).
Door Operator and Electronic Safety Edge
1. The door operator and safety edge are the most used components in an elevator. Door operators wear out. Old door operators and mechanical safety edges are the leading cause of service calls and injuries.
2. The mechanical safety edge, which requires a person or object to strike it in order for the door to retract, should be replaced by an electronic safety edge consisting of infrared beams extending the full height of the door. The door will retract when the beam is broken.
Telephone in Elevator
1. For safety purposes, each elevator should have an autodial telephone to a 24 hour 7 day a week service.
2. If a passenger is entrapped in an elevator they should have communication so that the maintaining elevator company can be notified to safely release the passenger.
3. To keep elevators operating safely the building management should meet with the elevator maintenance company to review the safety of the elevating system.
4. The Safety Code for Elevators is continually changing and the expectations of the passengers are continually rising.
