CHICAGO—April 23, 2019—The Elevator Consultants (TEC), a leading global elevator consulting firm, has issued a call to building owners in the wake of dozens of elevator and escalator-related incidents in recent years, to take a hard look at the maintenance of their equipment and take action to mitigate their own risk.
Elevators and other vertical transportation equipment are an often-overlooked asset in a building that, if not properly managed, can become an expensive liability. The fact is, many American buildings are at an age where their infrastructure is beginning to deteriorate, and many countries around the world are dealing with this issue for the second and third times due to the age of their buildings. This trend has created an epidemic of elevator safety issues in recent years.
According to the Center for Construction Research and Training (CWPR), about 25,000 people in the general public were treated at hospitals due to elevator- or escalator-related injuries in 2017, and the number jumped by 30 percent in the last decade. From 2011 to 2016, elevator-related incidents caused 145 deaths and 2,410 severe injuries among construction workers. (The actual numbers are unknown since there is no governance for reporting elevator incidents.)
The Importance of Preventive Maintenance and Monitoring
TEC sees this epidemic as a result of not just aging infrastructure, but also of elevator companies not performing regular maintenance. Often, elevators receive only break-fix or callback maintenance when something goes wrong, rather than the preventive maintenance that identifies safety concerns or issues before they lead to incidents or costly repairs. In addition, building owners frequently lack visibility into equipment maintenance because service providers often fail to provide complete records. To ensure proper servicing, building owners can take several proactive steps. In today’s digital age, technology makes it possible to access preventative maintenance information with just a click. Elevator monitoring software allows the building to own and control its data. Owners should always maintain control of their records so that, if the building changes service providers, all data remains in one location and is readily available.
TEC recommends that building owners empower themselves with insight about their elevators, escalators and lifts by implementing elevator monitoring software that will track maintenance received in detail. By using a commercial real estate technology solution like TEC’s Elevator App, elevator monitoring software, building owners can ensure that they are getting the monthly and yearly maintenance they paid the elevator service provider for, extend the life and operability of the equipment, and mitigate the risk of safety incidents.