National Association of Elevator Contractors [NAEC] Spring Conference

Last weekend/week was the NAEC spring conference is Savannah Georgia.  The NAEC is the largest association in North American of contractors, suppliers, consultants and other professionals.   Any time I go to a convention or conference I get charged up and overwhelmed because there is so much any company should be doing to improve their practices.  We all have lots of work to do and these events remind us that we need to get to work on improving our practices and the safety of everyone in the elevator industry.

Friday April 8^th to Tuesday April 12^th was packed full of seminars, round tables and discussions on the elevator industry.  There was a few receptions along the way as well.

High lights:

The contractor session started off the educational program with talking about MRL’s and California taking the lead by giving very strict guide lines on acceptable equipment.  Most MRL’s are not allowed to be installed in California right now.  There is one OEM that has equipment that meets the Californian requirements.  The MCP was also discussed in the session which it appears that everyone is not on the same page on what the MCP is supposed to be.

Draka gave a presentation on fiber optic cables and how to splice them in connectors to work with CAT 5/CAT 6 cables.  An elevator guy even got to try to do this, if you are going to do this, you will need glasses, these cables are very small and glass.

There was an “open mic” session where a bunch of us got together and talked about different items in the elevator industry a big item is the 3 by 5 rule for residential elevators as well as general liability and what correct maintenance is.  I enjoyed this session as it was a good mix of consultants, contractors and res lift companies.  It was good to get other peoples perspectives.

There was a great presentation on ASME A17.4 – Guide for emergency personnel by a elevator consultant/expert witness.  This document should be in all machine rooms and Fireman should assist in the elevator portion of any extraction.  We all know this does not occur.  Elevator personnel should not help the fireman remove people only in spotting the elevator and opening the doors.  This was a great presentation.  

EECO valve gave a presentation on adjusting their valve

Round tables – There were eight all together I went to the OSHA orientation session, six deadly safety points, and employment insurance update.

Lots of good information presented at this conference.  I met elevator contractors, suppliers and AHJs at the event.  It is good to be able to talk to fellow contractors and AHJ’s to see what they are doing and perhaps get some good information to bring home to your company. 

Next NAEC event is their United Convention in Montreal Canada where Americans and Canadians will share the stage and best practices and equipment September 7^th – September 16^th.

For more information go to NAEC.org

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.