Elevator certificates out of date
I have noticed that the expiration date of the elevator certificates in some buildings are long past. How can I report the need for them to be re-certified?
Auntie’s answer: If you want to report on an elevator that has an expired certificate you can email the applicable section of the Department of Planning at Building.Control@gov.ky.
If you are interested in a few more details about the certification process, please read on. A department official explained that when the relevant law was updated, the requirements for elevators were also changed. Before the enactment of the Building Code (Amendment) Regulations, 2016, elevators only had to pass their original acceptance test and they were good to go.
The new regulations mandate that elevators are inspected yearly and get a new certificate which will specify the date inspected, the date issued and the expiration date.
It is possible that the expired certificates you have seen are for elevators that were inspected under the previous law and are awaiting re-certification under the new code, and the department is “actively working to clear the elevators approved under the previous code”.
If the inspector determines “remedial work” is needed before granting a certificate, the owner will be given a specific time frame, for example 30 or 60 days, to make the necessary changes, and then be re-inspected. But these issues will usually be more to do with the equipment control room – such things as inadequate signage and access doors, or needing both a heat and smoke detector instead of the previously required one or the other.
The official stressed that if an elevator is deemed to be unsafe, it is immediately “locked out”, meaning the power is turned off so it cannot be used.
In addition, Schedule 7 of the code sets out the inspection and test intervals for various elevators. Commercial elevators usually need to be inspected every 12 months and private ones every 36 months.
If the building has a single elevator, the certificate will be displayed inside it, but if there are multiple elevators you will find a note posted in each one with information on where the actual certificate can be viewed.
And in case you were wondering, there are 454 elevators in the Cayman Islands.
The law mentioned above can be found on the CNS Library
Send questions to auntie@caymannewsservice.com
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Category: Ask Auntie, Planning Questions
Interesting. I was thinking the other day that almost every time I’ve bothered to look at an elevator certificate in the last year or so, it’s been expired.
This question is a biggie. Just like no air-pollution controls at landfill incinerators. Hotels fire inspections should be next.
Meantime, I would advise to take stairs.
P.S. And why in the world someone has to report out of date certification? Someone is certainly getting paid for making sure all operating elevators inspected as prescribed by Law. Not too many buildings have elevators to start with.