Canada To Introduce Legislation On Elevator Maintenance To Tackle Report Findings On Poor Availability And Reliability

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Canada To Introduce Legislation On Elevator Maintenance To Tackle Report Findings  On Poor Availability And Reliability
Canada To Introduce Legislation On Elevator Maintenance To Tackle Report Findings  On Poor Availability And Reliability

A law is being planned in Canada’s Ontario province that seeks to address elevator availability and reliability in the province in order to tackle “a growing vertical mobility issue” according to a report in The Canadian Press.

The planned legislation is seen as a response to a report that is to be released this week and it seeks to improve elevator reliability by requiring building owners to perform preventive maintenance which can reduce entrapments and other unscheduled shutdowns.

No Current Preventive Maintenance Standards For Elevators

Retired justice Douglas Cunningham who has authored the report has said that there are no “minimum preventive maintenance standards”  in Ontario for minimising “future availability issues.” According to Cunningham reports, only one in five residential buildings so far meet the minimum rules for scheduled maintenance tasks.

As per Cunningham “diverse and complex set” of related issues cause outages, such as maintenance, labour shortages and capacity challenges.

Other than mandatory preventive maintenance, the recommendations in the report include:

  • Contractors be asked to report outages lasting over 48 hours or in cases of half of all elevators in a building being out of service
  • They have in place a defined plan to restore service.
  • Outage information be made publicly available

Cunningham’s report notes that while the four big elevator companies – Kone, Otis, Schindler, and ThyssenKrupp – have given a positive outlook of the situation, critics have expressed concerns of them acting as an oligarchy  .

Elevator Access Problems Increasing 

The Ontario government had asked the safety regulator of the province, Technical Standards and Safety Authority, last year to study the issue after a news report revealed rising reports of problems regarding elevators availability in residential buildings, nursing homes and other buildings.

According to latest figures, firefighters in Ontario responded in 2016 to 4,577 calls by people trapped in lifts. Industry figures put total entrapments for the year at 9,649.

Cunningham’s study also included a survey of building owners conducted by consulting firm Deloitte.

The survey found that condominiums have so far reported the biggest availability problem. Nearly one in five respondents had reported an elevator being out of service for 18 days or more in any given year. No correlation to elevator age was identified.

The study also reviewed the situation in other cities like Vancouver, New York and Singapore.

A private member bill was introduced by Liberal backbencher Han Dong last year that seeks to punish contractors for extended elevator downtime and requires “traffic studies” to make sure that new residential buildings have sufficient elevator capacity. There are no such standards now.

Cunningham however notes Dong’s bill uses anecdotal data rather than “robust” evidence. According to him, there is an “acute absence” of reliable data for understanding the extent of the problem and identify potential fixes. Further there is no regulatory authority responsible for elevator availability.

Data collection and developing solutions to address the issue will take years, and would need to involve several ministries, contractors, building owners, along with the safety regulator, the report has found.

Timelines for returning elevators to service

According to sources, Consumer Services Minister Tracy MacCharles who also handles accessibility issues is expected to introduce the enabling legislation this spring and regulations later in the fall in order to start addressing the issue.

Long term plans including defining timelines for returning the equipment to service along with other measures like stronger enforcement tools and fines. Building code amendments will ensure that new buildings offer required number of elevators.

The government also plans on data related to elevator uptimes being made publicly available, sources said

One major issue that will need to be resolved is if the responsibility for elevator availability is to be given to the current safety authority, which is however against taking on the extra mandate.

 

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