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,
Office of the State Comptroller
Division of Local Governmentand School Accountability
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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 3
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER4
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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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 5
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER6
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER8
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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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 9
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER10
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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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 11
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER12
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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DIVISIONOF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY 13
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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OFFICEOFTHE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER14
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:
Office of the State Comptroller
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
Office of the State Comptroller
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
Office of the State Comptroller
33 Airport Center Drive, Suite 103
New Windsor, New York 12553-4725
(845) 567-0858 Fax (845) 567-0080
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester
counties
ROCHESTER REGIONAL OFFICE
Edward V. Grant, Jr., Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
The Powers Building
16 West Main Street Suite 522
Rochester, New York 14614-1608
(585) 454-2460 Fax (585) 454-3545
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Cayuga, Chemung, Livingston, Monroe,
Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Yates counties
SYRACUSE REGIONAL OFFICE
Rebecca Wilcox, Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
State Office Building, Room 409
333 E. Washington Street
Syracuse, New York 13202-1428
(315) 428-4192 Fax (315) 426-2119
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison,
Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence counties
ALBANY REGIONAL OFFICE
Kenneth Madej, Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
22 Computer Drive West
Albany, New York 12205-1695
(518) 438-0093 Fax (518) 438-0367
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene,Schenectady, Ulster counties
BINGHAMTON REGIONAL OFFICE
Patrick Carbone, Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
State Office Building, Room 1702
44 Hawley Street
Binghamton, New York 13901-4417
(607) 721-8306 Fax (607) 721-8313
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware,
Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins counties
BUFFALO REGIONAL OFFICE
Robert Meller, Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
295 Main Street, Room 1050
Buffalo, New York 14203-2510
(716) 847-3647 Fax (716) 847-3643
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie,
Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming counties
GLENS FALLS REGIONAL OFFICE
Karl Smoczynski, Chief Examiner
Office of the State Comptroller
One Broad Street Plaza
Glens Falls, New York 12801-4396
(518) 793-0057 Fax (518) 793-5797
Email: [email protected]
Serving: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton,
Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, Washington
counties