Elevator Inspections FINAL[5]

8/8/2019 Elevator Inspections FINAL[5]

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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

& SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY

O F F I C E O F T H E N E W YO R K ST A T E C O M P T R O L L E R

2010-MS-6

Enforcement of

Elevator and RelatedEquipment Inspections

Thomas P. DiNapoli


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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 1

Table of Contents

Page

AUTHORITY LETTER 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION 5

Background 5

Objective 6 Scope and Methodology 6

Comments of Local Officials 6

ENFORCEMENT OF ELEVATOR INSPECTIONS 7

Recommendations 11

APPENDIX A Response From City Officials 12

APPENDIX B Audit Methodology and Standards 13

APPENDIX C How to Obtain Additional Copies of the Report 15

APPENDIX D Local Regional Office Listing 16


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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER2

State of New York

Office of the State Comptroller

Division of Local Government

and School Accountability

September 2010

Dear City Officials:

A top priority of the Office of the State Comptroller is to help local government officials manage

government resources efficiently and effectively and, by so doing, provide accountability for taxdollars spent to support government operations. The Comptroller oversees the fiscal affairs of

local governments statewide, as well as compliance with relevant statutes and observance of good

business practices. This fiscal oversight is accomplished, in part, through our audits, which

identify opportunities for improving operations and City Council governance. Audits also can

identify strategies to reduce costs and to strengthen controls intended to safeguard local government

assets.

Following is a report of our audit titled Enforcement of Elevator and Related Equipment

Inspections. This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution

and the State Comptrollers authority as set forth in Article 3 of the General Municipal Law.

This audits results and recommendations are resources for local government officials to use in

effectively managing operations and in meeting the expectations of their constituents. If you have

questions about this report, please feel free to contact the local regional office for your county, as

listed at the end of this report.

Respectfully submitted,


Division of Local Governmentand School Accountability


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State of New YorkOffice of the State Comptroller

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There are an estimated 700,000 elevators and 35,000 escalators in the United States.1 Incidents

involving elevators and escalators kill about 30 and seriously injure about 17,000 people each year

in the United States.2 Many of the deaths could have been prevented if adequate maintenance and

inspection procedures had been in place in the involved buildings.

New York State Property Maintenance Code Section 606.1 (Code) requires that all elevators,

dumbwaiters and escalators be maintained to safely carry all imposed loads, that they operateproperly, and that they be free from physical and fire hazards. The Code specifies that elevator

inspections be performed every six months by a qualified elevator inspector (QEI).3 In addition,

Article 18 of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code Act (Article 18)

requires local governments to enforce the Code and ensure that property owners meet schedules

for inspections and tests set forth in the Code.

Scope and Objective

The objective of our audit was to determine whether local governments are ensuring that all

elevators and related equipment are being properly inspected and tested in accordance with

Code requirements for the period January 1, 2009 through April 6, 2010. Our audit addressed thefollowing related question:

Are local governments ensuring that public elevators and escalators are being inspected

and tested by certified QEIs as scheduled in the Code?

Audit Results

Five of the six cities audited are not ensuring that public elevators and related equipment are

inspected as required by the Code. Only Buffalo has a tracking system in place that enables it

to successfully enforce compliance with the Code. While not in compliance, Elmira verifies that

building owners provide for annual on-site inspections (the Code requires inspections every six

months). However, we found that Binghamton, Troy, Poughkeepsie and Utica do not ensure that

property owners have their elevators and related equipment properly inspected and/or tested

in accordance with Code. These cities had no systems to inventory and track elevators and

related equipment4 subject to inspection requirements, and to monitor compliance with Code

1 According to the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation at http://eesf.org2 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission3 A QEI meets the qualification requirements of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.4 Escalators, dumbwaiters and lifts are considered related equipment.


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requirements. Consequently, these municipal officials do not know if the elevators and related

equipment in their cities are safe to use. Officials in these cities told us that they were not aware of

the Codes specific requirements or that they lacked the resources to implement them.

Since municipal officials often do not enforce the Code, we conducted tests to determine if

building owners complied with the Codes provisions on their own. Our tests of 476 elevators in192 properties (148 private properties and 44 city-owned buildings) found that, while inspection

compliance rates were excellent in Buffalo (100 percent) and Elmira (97 percent), compliance

rates ranged from 0 percent to 50 percent in the other four cities. In these four cities, only 63

of 213 (30 percent) of the elevators tested were QEI-inspected; further, none of the elevators in

these cities municipal buildings were inspected. Many building owners whose elevators were not

inspected as required told us that they did not know they were not following the Code, or that their

elevator maintenance companies informed them that the city did not require compliance with the

Code. The failure to enforce required elevator inspections in all buildings including city-owned

buildings puts public safety at risk.

Comments of Local Officials

The results of our audit and recommendations have been discussed with city officials and their

comments have been considered in preparing this report.


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Background

Introduction

There are an estimated 700,000 elevators and 35,000 escalators

in the United States.5 Each year in the United States, incidents

involving elevators and escalators kill about 30 people and

seriously injure about 17,000 people.6 Many of the deaths and

injuries could have been prevented if adequate maintenance and

inspection procedures had been in place in the involved buildings.

New York State Property Maintenance Code Section 606.1

(Code) requires that all elevators, dumbwaiters and escalators be

maintained to safely carry all imposed loads, that they operate

properly, and that they be free from physical and fire hazards.

The Code specifies that elevator inspections be performed every

six months by a qualified elevator inspector (QEI).7 In addition,

Article 18 of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention andBuilding Code Act (Article 18) requires local governments to

enforce the Code and ensure that property owners meet schedules

for inspections and tests set forth in the Code.

Our audit examined six cities (the Cities of Binghamton,

Buffalo, Elmira, Poughkeepsie, Troy and Utica) across the State

to review the monitoring and enforcement of required inspections

of elevators, escalators and related lift devices. The following

table provides background information on each city.

5 According to the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation at http://eesf.org6 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Consumer Product

Safety Commission7 A QEI meets the qualification requirements of the American Society of

Mechanical Engineers.


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Comments of Local

Officials

BACKGROUND FOR EACH CITY AUDITED

City County Population

2009 Budgeted

Expenditures

in millions

Responsible

for Monitoring

Number of

Commercial

Buildings*

Binghamton Broome 47,400 $89.1 Fire Marshall** 2,021

Buffalo Erie 292,000 $494

Supervisor

of Elevator

Inspections 7,484

Elmira Chemung 29,500 $28.7 Fire Marshall 981

Poughkeepsie Dutchess 30,500 $70.7

Building

Department 1,137

Troy Rensselaer 47,200 $75.5

Code

Enforcement 1,603

Utica Oneida 60,600 $62.4

Fire

Department** 2,279

* Information from the New York State Office of Real Property Services

** Afterfieldwork began, the City made the Fire Marshall responsible for Code enforcement.

Scope and Methodology

Objective The objective of our audit was to determine whether local

governments are ensuring that all elevators and related equipment

are being properly inspected and tested and qualified elevator

inspectors perform the inspections in accordance with the Code.

Our audit addressed the following related questions:

Are local governments ensuring that public elevators and

escalators are being inspected and tested by a certifiedQEI as scheduled in the Code?

For the period January 1, 2009 through April 6, 2010, we

interviewed municipal officials and examined records related

to the enforcement of elevator and escalator inspections, as

scheduled in the Code, in six cities.

We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted

government auditing (GAGAS). More information on such

standards and the methodology used in performing this audit is

included in Appendix B of this report.

The results of our audit and recommendations have been

discussed with city officials and their comments have been

considered in preparing this report.


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Employing or authorizing QEIs whom building owners

can contact to perform inspections

Establishing procedures to monitor compliance with

inspection requirements

Informing the building owners about the Code and their

responsibility to comply with it

Establishing methods of recourse for enforcing

compliance with the Code and penalizing Code violations.

We found that Buffalo has established a monitoring system

that includes the above components. Buffalo officials use this

system to monitor and enforce compliance with the Code within

the required timeframes. Buffalo has established procedures

governing the Code, and has made this information available tothe public. Buffalo has also created a separate function within the

Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection

Services for monitoring compliance with the Code, which is

performed by a Supervisor, who is a QEI. The Supervisor sends

out semi-annual letters to notify property owners 60 days before

inspections are due, maintains a list of licensed independent

QEIs available to perform inspections, and electronically

tracks the inspections and tests that are performed in the City.

The Supervisor receives inspection reports from the QEIs, and

issues annual certificates of operation to property owners after

any listed violations are corrected. Property owners can also

select an elevator maintenance contractor from a City-approved

list of licensed contractors. In 2009, the City collected about

$80,000 in elevator inspection-related revenues, including fees

from the issuance of elevator operating certificates and elevator

maintenance contractor licenses and code violation payments.

We also found that, while Elmira has an elevator inspection

monitoring system in place, the system lacks certain components

needed to provide adequate assurance of compliance with Code

requirements. Elmiras monitoring system verifies that propertyowners in the City inspect and/or test their elevators and related

equipment on an annual basis. The Fire Departments Division of

Inspection Services verifies that inspections/tests have been done

when they perform annual fire safety inspections in buildings.9

However, the Code requires that such inspections be performed

every six months, not every year. Further, the City has not hired

9 Elmira local law allows the Fire Department to inspect commercial property

at least once a year.


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QEIs, and does not maintain a list of authorized independent

QEIs whom building owners can hire to do inspections. In

addition, the City does not use the inspection reports it receives to

identify non-compliance. Elmira officials told us they do not have

sufficient resources or personnel to execute all aspects of their

responsibilities under the Code, namely maintaining continuousmonitoring and doing inspections every six months.

Binghamton, Poughkeepsie, Troy, and Utica have not established

procedures to monitor and enforce the inspection of elevators

and related equipment, and they do not track and follow up on

inspections and tests that are independently performed. Only

Binghamton had identified elevators and related equipment in

the city, although the list was incomplete. These cities have not

employed QEIs or authorized QEIs to perform inspections of

elevators and related equipment in their jurisdiction. Because

they have no means of verifying that required inspections are performed, officials in these cities do not know if building

owners are aware of or in compliance with the Code. Further, in

light of the lack of monitoring, these cities also have no system in

place to assess penalties for non-compliance. As a result, these

local officials do not know whether the elevators and related

equipment in their cities are safe to use.

City officials in three of the four noncompliant cities told

us they were not aware of the detailed requirements of the

Code; only Utica officials reported that they were aware of the

requirements. Officials in all four cities gave various reasons

for noncompliance, including a lack of funding and a limited

number of personnel. These officials said they were focusing

instead on implementing other requirements of Article 18

relating to elevators in new construction/renovations and elevator

complaints because they lacked the resources to implement the

required oversight program for all city elevators.

We recognize that Buffalos ability to sustain full-scale

monitoring efforts, including having a QEI supervise the elevator

inspection function, is due in part to the fact that an elevatorinspection function in a larger municipality creates enough

revenue to cover the cost of running the function. However, it

is essential that officials in all cities create and maintain an

inventory of elevators in their city, employ or authorize QEIs

who can do inspections, and develop a practicable method

of monitoring for compliance with the Codes inspection

requirements. Otherwise, public safety could be at risk.


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Compliance with Inspection Requirements The Code requires

that all elevators, dumbwaiters and escalators be inspected

every six months to help ensure they are properly maintained

to operate safely. Since municipal officials often do not monitor

the enforcement of the Code, we conducted tests to determine

if building owners complied with the Codes provisions ontheir own. We judgmentally selected a sample of 476 elevators

in 192 properties to test for compliance with Code inspection

requirements. The 192 buildings10 we tested, which included

148 private properties and 44 city-owned buildings, comprised

a representative sample of multi-level commercial (e.g., banks,

retail stores) and municipal (e.g., city agency offices, city housing

units) buildings in each city. While inspection compliance rates

were excellent in Buffalo (100 percent) and Elmira (97 percent),

compliance rates ranged from 0 percent to 50 percent in the other

four cities, as shown in the following table.

10 The buildings were owned by a total of 72 property owners/managers,

comprising 12 owners (including the municipality) in each city.

CityBuildings

TestedElevators QEI-inspected

Percent

Compliance

Binghamton 27 62 17 27%

Buffalo 56 197 197 100%

Elmira 29 66 64 97%

Poughkeepsie 21 30 0 0%

Troy 20 59 30 50%

Utica 39 62 16 25%

Total 192 476 324

In the four cities that did not monitor for inspections and enforce

compliance with the Code, we found that only 63 of 213 (30

percent) of elevators tested were QEI-inspected, as required by

Code. Even worse, none of the 28 elevators located in 19 city-

owned buildings in these four cities were QEI-inspected.

Many building owners whose elevators were not inspected as

required told us that they did not know they were not following

the Code, or that their elevator maintenance companies informed

them that the city did not require compliance with the Code.These property owners had no proof that inspections were

performed. Other non-compliant property owners had very

limited evidence of inspections that was inadequate to show that

inspections were performed according to Code. For example:


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While reviewing property owners documentation,

most were only able to produce bills, service reports or

maintenance logs that did not provide information about

whether any inspections were performed.

Other property owners produced records of service callsthat were unclear regarding the testing that was done.

Some of the records identified the technicians providing

service, but the technicians were not independent

inspectors or QEIs.

At some properties, neither the owners nor their

representatives (for example, a maintenance supervisor or

a building manager) were present for maintenance visits

to ensure that the work was performed.

The failure to monitor and enforce required elevator inspections

in all buildings including city-owned buildings and the

failure to inform the public about Code requirements contributes

significantly to the incidence of non-compliance with elevator

inspections. Such non-compliance jeopardizes public safety due

to potentially unsafe elevators and related equipment.

1. City officials should ensure that all elevators and related

equipment in city buildings are being inspected and tested in

compliance with Code.

2. City officials should develop procedures to enable

the effective monitoring of the Code pertaining to the

enforcement of elevator inspections.

3. City officials should create and periodically update the

inventory of elevators and related equipment in their cities.

4. City officials should employ or authorize QEIs that building

owners can use to perform inspections of elevators and

related equipment.

5. City officials must inform the building owners about the

Code and their responsibility to comply with it, as well as

establish recourse for non-compliance with the Code.

Recommendations


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APPENDIX A

RESPONSES FROM CITY OFFICIALS

We provided a draft copy of this global report to officials in each of the six cities we audited and

requested responses. We received response letters from the Cities of Binghamton, Buffalo, Elmiraand Utica. We provided the Cities of Troy and Poughkeepsie with an opportunity to respond, but

they chose not to respond to the draft global report within the designated timeframe.

Officials in the four cities agreed with our audit conclusions and recommendations, as indicated in

the following excerpts from their response letters.

City of Binghamton officials: It is our intention to implement all five recommendations as soon

as possible after we receive the final report.

City of Buffalo officials: we are delighted with the findings of the auditors and therefore have

no issues with the report.

City of Elmira officials: we are very happy with ourfinal outcome and the items pointed out to us

during this audit were helpful and have given us direction to hopefully improve our performance.

City of Utica officials: policies and procedures consistent with these recommendations will be

established with the goal of attaining 100% compliance. However, Utica officials also stated that

the comment we included from building owners, specifically that elevator maintenance companies

informed them the city did not require compliance with the code (page 10, paragraph 3), was hearsay.

OSCs Comment

We visited buildings in each city to verify compliance with code requirements and to report the

building owners reasons for non-compliance. The reasons, as told to us by the building owners,

are properly attributed to the owners in our report.


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APPENDIX B

AUDIT METHODOLOGY AND STANDARDS

We interviewed officials in the six cities to gain an understanding of the internal controls over the

monitoring and enforcement of the inspection of elevators in the cities. We reviewed relevant lawsand the building Code to familiarize ourselves with the statutes that impact the authorities having

jurisdiction over the enforcement of the inspections of elevators. We reviewed City records for

evidence of inspection and performed on-site visits to selected building owners/managers in the

Cities jurisdiction to review applicable records and determine if the elevators were being tested

and inspected in accordance with the Code.

In gaining understanding of internal controls we determined:

Responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the Code

Familiarity with the Code and the prescribed review schedule pertaining to elevators,

escalators and associated equipment

Responsible for maintaining an inventory of all elevators and associated equipment in the

City

If there are local laws and/or policies and procedures in place for the oversight, review, and

monitoring of elevators and related equipment in the City

Whether or not the City employs QEI inspectors.

In reviewing city records to ascertain monitoring efforts over public elevators and escalators being

inspected and tested in accordance with the Code, we:

Determined whether elevators and related equipment within the City that are housed

in zoned commercial property and would be subject to compliance with code had been

identified

Chose 12 building owners from each City, from the inventory list (if one existed) and from

known area buildings with elevators such as hospitals/medical facilities, nursing homes,

private colleges, high-rise office buildings, apartments, and hotels through research

Reviewed the elevators and related equipment information to determine compliance with

Code schedules. The on-site information from the locations were then compared with

available records at the City. Specific questions included:

o If elevators and escalators were inspected by someone with a QEI certification

every 6 months, as required


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o If elevators and escalators were tested by the Owners maintenance company and

witnessed by a QEI every 12 months, as required

o If the inspector was employed by or authorized by the City (the AHJ Authority

having jurisdiction)

o If the information that is required to be on an inspection report, including the name

and QEI identification number of the inspector, was on the report,

o If the certificate of inspection which is required to be on the device, in a location

approved by the City, or in the building managers office, was available

o If a copy of the inspection report (or certificate), prepared by the QEI, was on file

with the City.

We conducted our performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing

standards (GAGAS). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtainsufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions

based on our audit objective. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for

ourfindings and conclusions based on our audit objective.


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APPENDIX C

HOW TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THE REPORT

To obtain copies of this report, write or visit our web page:


Public Information Office

110 State Street, 15th Floor

Albany, New York 12236

(518) 474-4015

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/


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OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER16

APPENDIX D

OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER

DIVISION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

AND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY

Steven J. Hancox, Deputy ComptrollerJohn C. Traylor, Assistant Comptroller

LOCAL REGIONAL OFFICE LISTING

HAUPPAUGE REGIONAL OFFICE

Ira McCracken, Chief Examiner


NYS Office Building, Room 3A10

Veterans Memorial Highway

Hauppauge, New York 11788-5533

(631) 952-6534 Fax (631) 952-6530

Email: [email protected]

Serving: Nassau, Suffolk counties

NEWBURGH REGIONAL OFFICE

Christopher Ellis, Chief Examiner


33 Airport Center Drive, Suite 103

New Windsor, New York 12553-4725

(845) 567-0858 Fax (845) 567-0080


Serving: Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester

counties

ROCHESTER REGIONAL OFFICE

Edward V. Grant, Jr., Chief Examiner


The Powers Building

16 West Main Street Suite 522

Rochester, New York 14614-1608

(585) 454-2460 Fax (585) 454-3545


Serving: Cayuga, Chemung, Livingston, Monroe,

Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Yates counties

SYRACUSE REGIONAL OFFICE

Rebecca Wilcox, Chief Examiner


State Office Building, Room 409

333 E. Washington Street

Syracuse, New York 13202-1428

(315) 428-4192 Fax (315) 426-2119


Serving: Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison,

Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence counties

ALBANY REGIONAL OFFICE

Kenneth Madej, Chief Examiner


22 Computer Drive West

Albany, New York 12205-1695

(518) 438-0093 Fax (518) 438-0367


Serving: Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene,Schenectady, Ulster counties

BINGHAMTON REGIONAL OFFICE

Patrick Carbone, Chief Examiner


State Office Building, Room 1702

44 Hawley Street

Binghamton, New York 13901-4417

(607) 721-8306 Fax (607) 721-8313


Serving: Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware,

Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins counties

BUFFALO REGIONAL OFFICE

Robert Meller, Chief Examiner


295 Main Street, Room 1050

Buffalo, New York 14203-2510

(716) 847-3647 Fax (716) 847-3643


Serving: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie,

Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming counties

GLENS FALLS REGIONAL OFFICE

Karl Smoczynski, Chief Examiner


One Broad Street Plaza

Glens Falls, New York 12801-4396

(518) 793-0057 Fax (518) 793-5797


Serving: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton,

Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, Washington

counties

Documents

Elevator Inspections FINAL[5]