Elevator-focused consultancy offers tips to elevate elevator strategy

Chicago-based The Elevator Consultants (TEC) has offered best practices for building owners to raise their elevator-based strategy.

Every year, incidents in the US involving elevators and escalators kill an average of 30 people and injure 17,000. Approximately half of elevator-related fatalities involve workers, meaning about 15 elevator riders are killed annually. To put that in perspective, around 30,000 people are killed in automobile collisions in the US each year.

The prospect of an elevator accident captures the anxious imagination, but the chances of being killed by an elevator are extremely low, considering they make 18 billion annual passenger trips in the US.

The elevator industry is highly regulated to maintain adequate levels of safety, with nationwide standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, with most states and cities also having their own regulations. Elevators have mandated periodic inspections and maintenance of equipment, components, and elevator machine rooms. 

Nonetheless, accidents happen. In November 2018, an elevator at the John Hancock Center in Chicago plunged 84 floors when at least one of the cables broke. A number of cables were still intact, however, so the passengers suffered no injuries.

Most building owners do their required maintenance and otherwise pay little attention to their elevators – missing what consultancy TEC calls “the ‘bigger picture’ of elevator management.” By considering how elevators and escalators affect buildings, tenants, portfolios, investments, and business goals, TEC helps clients limit costs and financial risk, and boost the performance and quality of their “vertical transportation systems.”

TEC, which was founded in 2006, provides a wide array of services, such as consulting and audits, expert testimony, due diligence, and repair and inspections.

The firm recently offered several tips to shape a more effective elevator management strategy. First, TEC recommends a company reevaluate its elevator service contract, as many buildings are charged for unreceived services, unnecessary repairs, and redundant service calls. As such, building owners must be proactive and make sure their service contracts are being performed to a “T,” and that necessary maintenance is being done.

TEC also recommends the inclusion of accountability measures in service contracts, including terms and conditions that align with building’s operational needs. The contract should therefore have key performance indicators that are able to hold the service provider accountable for errors or gaps in service.

Lastly, the consulting firm advises that owners leverage technological advances to keep better equipment records, including service and repair history. Software such as TEC’s ElevatorApp automates the real-time monitoring and tracking of maintenance service contracts, as well as changes and fees associated with equipment.