The Elevator Contractors of America (ECA) is a group of independent elevator contractors that have gotten together to work with the International Union of Elevator Contractors (IUEC) to have a better work arrangement and relationship. Once a year we get together for our annual meeting to go over internal business, education and to hear about the IUEC’s state of affairs and different programs. This year we had the meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was great to see some old faces, old friends and meet some new signatory members, as well as some of the IUEC faces. Colley Elevator has been going to this meeting for the last 16+ years.
The ECA is a great organization that we are proud to be part of; it has over 52
different member companies from coast to coast. ECA companies have a separate
CBA (collective bargaining agreement) than other IUEC member companies. All
IUEC mechanics and apprentices get the same pay rate in all agreements. The ECA
agreement is tailored to the independent contractors and the different needs we
may have from Otis, Schindler, Thyssen, Kone, etc.
Sunday
Sunday evening
is a reception for everyone to see each other and say hi. Some of us only see each other once or twice
a year after talking to each other on the phone throughout the year. It’s a great time to reconnect before we get
to work on Monday.
Monday
We started with the key note speaker Steve Gilliland. Steve is a great
motivational speaker and while we had him back in 2018, it was great to see his
high energy and comedic take on motivational speaking.
Here are some
of my notes
He asked you to
think about the 5 people who most influenced your life and what you learned
from them.
Surround
yourself with people with a positive mindset.
Don’t give
people permission to ruin your day. Cut
out the noise(news channels, social media).
Create a ripple – you don’t need to make a big splash, making an effort will create a ripple that can make a big effect.
Pride –
Personal Responsibility In Delivery Excellence.
When no one is watching – do better than anyone else and put your
autograph on it.
Our ECA safety
consultant Ed Hoeffliger spoke
Aging
workforce
Stretching, proper lifting, use
helpers
Osha
enforcement direction
Still active
Still issuing citations
Dangerous activities
Dangerous jobs
Report injuries
Fatal four
1. Falls
2. Electrocution
3. Struck by incidents
4. Caught between hazards
Typical high
risk activities
Work inside HW
Elevator
Mod work
Machine room maintenance
Electrical troubleshooting
Work
on cab tops
Osha
alliance working on training Osha inspectors
Osha
regulatory priorities – being discussed
Heat Illness prevention
rule(probably a fed rule)
Expanded injury data reporting
Hazard communication updates
PPE and worker protection (that fits
– Not one set of gloves, glasses, etc)
National
emphasis programs
Heat exposure
Falls in construction
Machine guarding nad amputations
Electrical hazards
State OSHA
plans
22 states operate OSHA programs
Heat illness regulations – States
are taking lead
Workplace violence rules
Ergonomics initiative
Written plan
Hazard
assessments and monitoring
Free
potable water(not Gatorade, energy drinks, etc)
Rest
breaks and cooling measures
For
really hot
Mandatory breaks
Pre shift heat briefings
Active monitoring of
symptoms
Signs and
Symptoms
Heat straing; thirst fatigue,
irritability, heavy sweating
Heat exhaustion, headaches, cramps,
dizzy
Heat
exhaustion gets worse(shock) – Pale skin, nausea, confusion, rapid heartbeat,
poor coordination
Heat
stroke – High body temp, hot skin, cognitive impairment, seizures (call 911,
cool them off)
What to do
when ICE comes to town
Work place violence
What if ICE comes to a job site?
What if Anti ICE protests
Osha
Alliance
Ongoing work project –
elevatorindustrysafetypartners.com
2025 Fall protection, suspended
scaffolds and false cars, LOTO
Seems slow due to back and forth
between experts
OSHA
Elevator Industry Overview meeting at Local 2 – May 20-21st, 2026
Workers are
getting older
OSHA and the
states are still in place
Prepare for
summer
Think about
“what ifs” that do happen – work place violence
Check out
the Alliance work product
Our attorney Ken Richmon -. We
talked about work environments from 2020 to 2026 and what we do outside of work
is not entering our employment due to social media.
Our joint ECA/IUEC safety committee met in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Tuesday was
IUEC day where we got brought up to speed on what each branch was up to and
progress they have made over the year. It gave each group time to explain some
of the successes, challenges from last year and where they are going this year.
The meeting kicked off with General President Frank Christenson talking about
his ideas moving forward. The collective message was of continuing the 3 years
without a fatality and “all of us together” on work place safety. IUEC will be focusing on healthcare and education
Jim Chapman – Assistant General President talked
about a few things but what stuck out to me was
Wants to stress – Changing the culture of safety because
we are talking about it
Next piece of culture – education
Highest
standard of education
Highest
standard of craftsmanship
Not
a penalty, its an opportunity
Larry McGann – General Secretary and treasurer –
talked about giving our retirees more opportunities in the industry to use
their domain knowledge to benefit the industry.
We have a great healthcare reserve and all financials are doing well.
Allen Spears – EIWPF – Allen is one of my
favorites. I have been working with
Allen for over 15 years maybe longer.
Great ambassador for EIWPF cause. He went over our programs and talked about
the 2025 use of the programs. Working
more on mental health aspect of the elevator industry.
Remember 988 –
Mental health hoteline/suicide hotline
John
Caughhey & David Morgan
– NEIEP - Talked about new hire program,
welcome center and other initiatives NEIEP is working on to separate them as
the gold standard in the elevator training programs. Always great to see what they are up to.
Safety
committee – We discussed a recent situation they
encountered and our current challenges; Fall protection and caught between.
Code
development
2022
2.26.2.38
Ladder electrical deivce
2.1.7
Illumination of HW
8.14
Cyber security
2025
2.2.3
guards between adjacent pits
2.26.1.4.2(i)
Approaching hazard warning system
17.1-2005
Supplement
2.3.2.3 guarding of CWT in
Multiple elevator hoistway
1,209
days with out a fatality
Rigging
2 – machines flipping with big block ups
Organizing
talked about their recent activity.
Director of Codes
discussed aging elevators.
Benefits
Department talked about health of financial plans and health plans. This is
always a great one to listen and look at.
There is a lot of time and care taken to make sure there is a healthy
program.
The biggest
take away is how close the ECA and IUEC are together with our safety
expectations for membership and making our industry involvement better than all
other alternatives.
I always take a lot away from these meetings. We learn a lot during the
sessions but it is the conversations we have during the reception, lunch,
breaks, breakfast that I take away the most. While we are in different
geographic locations, we have the same challenges and it is great to get a
chance to talk about what is working for other companies across the
country.
Among the great
thing we get to do is to have some face time with the IUEC leadership and
informally talk about what challenges each side of the table has. Everyone’s
goal is to have a harmonious relationship and go to work in a great trade,
doing great things, safely. If you work for a company that is signatory and is
not a member of the ECA, I would strongly encourage signing up, the cost is
minimal and the benefit is huge. Thank you to the ECA leadership for putting on
another great event!
If you have any
questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at
CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.
Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.
