Over
the years I have been involved in the elevator industry I have seen an
evolution of what elevator maintenance is.
I work as a contractor in the Chicago area and the evolution is sometimes
alarming and difficult for me to wrap my hands around. In my opinion there are three parts of the
elevator maintenance equation; contractors, mechanics and building owners. We all should have a significant interest in
having safe and reliable elevator service.
Elevator
contractors are the maintenance contract holders. It is the elevator contractor to supply
enough people and time to complete elevator maintenance per their agreements
with building owners. It is the elevator
contractor’s job to educate the building owner what they need to do to keep
their elevators in safe and reliable working order. In the Chicago area we have
started to see reduced time to complete elevator maintenance and the elevator
technician given less time to do maintenance in a building. If an elevator technician is not given enough
time to complete a series of required maintenance tasks such as checking phone,
door locks, emergency lights, fireman’s service, car top inspection, etc. they
will not have time to keep their jobs clean and complete proactive equipment
replacement such as door rollers, light bulbs, interlock contacts, etc. I have bumped into mechanics who have told me
some buildings they have 6 minute maintenance visits. The only tasks you can do in six minutes is
ride the elevator and go into the machine room and fill out paper work or enter
information on your PDA. Elevator
contractors need to give elevator mechanics time to complete elevator
maintenance. Elevator contractors also
need to give the elevator mechanic a maintenance control plan so they know what
is required to be checked at buildings.
Elevator
mechanics are the 2nd part of the elevator maintenance equation. With
the changing of the new reality and our industry’s self-induced vision of what
“elevator maintenance” is, it is difficult for mechanics to keep elevators
running well. I often say there are two
parts to maintenance; time and motivation. Let us assume the elevator mechanic
has enough time to complete elevator maintenance on an elevator. We should be going through our company
supplied check list and maintenance control plan to see what is required. With the information that is supplied by the
company we should be following the steps and looking at the safety items first;
phone, door locks, door speed, emergency lights, fireman’s service, car top
inspection, etc. Next we should be
looking for what needs to be attended to door rollers, light bulbs, and other
items that may need to be addressed. The
next series would be to make sure your machine room, car top and elevator pits
are clean. The company should provide a
check list and MCP for every elevator that should outline the expectations for
each elevator and the company should give the mechanic enough time to complete
the tasks associated with their expectations of having a safe and reliable
elevator system. If the mechanics are
given the time to complete maintenance they also need to have the motivation.
Building
owners are the final part of the equation for successful elevator
maintenance. A building owner should be
hiring a reputable company, paying a fair price and taking the responsibility
of their elevator systems. No building
owner likes paying more than market price for elevator maintenance. Typically building owners are cost conscience
of what money they are spending on maintaining their building systems. It is up to the elevator contractors to
educate building owners on what they need to do to have safe and reliable
running elevators. The key here is a
there needs to be a good line of communication between building owners,
contractors and the front line elevator mechanic. Contractors and mechanics will not win with
building owners who do not want to be reasonable with their elevator care. This is where a building owner needs to be
responsible for their elevator systems.
If no responsibility is taken we as contractors and mechanics will
struggle giving you safe and reliable elevators.
Over
the years I have also developed pride in being a part of the elevator industry,
this is more than a job to me. As a
contractor it is alarming to hear building owners talk about not seeing their
elevator mechanic. It is alarming to
hear about mechanics having 6 to 15 minutes 4 times a year to maintain an
elevator with a full maintenance contract.
It is also alarming when we visit buildings to find elevators that
building owners are not taking responsibility in maintaining and replacing
equipment. I believe everyone involved
can take measures to improve the safety and reliability of the elevators we
have contracts with, maintain or own. We
all need to work together so our elevators run safe.
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.