July 30, 1997

Circular Letter E-97-1

T0:  All Elevator Companies

SUBJECT:  Results of April Meetings

Two meetings were held in April, one in Northern California and one in Southern California, discussing five topics. The following information is being circulated to all elevator companies describing the results of these meetings and some changes in various procedures involved in the operation of the Elevator, Ride and Tramway Unit.

  • Item #1:

    Enclosed is a new form which must be submitted to the Division informing the Division that an elevator(s) is being installed or altered. This form must be filled out in its entirety, thus supplying the Division with some basic information about the new or altered installation. This form will be considered the "Letter of Intent to Install or Alter an Elevator(s)" and shall be submitted upon the signing of a contract to install or alter an elevator(s). Any delay in submitting this form may delay the inspection of the installation. A request for inspection by the elevator company should be made when the installation is finished including all work required by the General Contractor. Any work which is required to be done by the General Contractor must be completed before a request to inspect is made. If this work is not completed, the inspection including load test will not be conducted. A new request will have to be made and will be subject to the workload in the respective office.

  • Item #2:

    All five-year hydraulic load test forms must be completed accurately and in their entirety. Any deviation from this will cause rejection of the form and/or load test and may require a retest witnessed by a Division Engineer with additional charges. The intent of the load test is to detect any problems in the hydraulic system in order to avoid future failures, therefore arbitrarily changing data plates will not be accepted. If this is to occur, the Senior in charge of the District Office must be consulted. The Division will not attempt to set the procedures involved in completing the test as there are various methods which can be used to accomplish the job.

    Circular Letter E-97-1
    July 30, 1997

    Page 2

  • Item #3:

    The Division will conduct all fire service inspections during the acceptance test following the Elevator Safety Orders as closely as possible. Any items not addressed by the code will be handled on a case by case basis and the Division will try to be consistent throughout the State with regards to these items.

  • Item #4:

    There have been cases where requirements have been signed off by responsible parties and the requirements have not been completed. I may be necessary to reinspect these units to assure compliance. These reinspections would be billed at the normal hourly rate. Also, if you, as the service company, submits a compliance letter each requirement must be addressed in this letter.

  • Item #5:

    In order to avoid any questions when the Division removes an elevator from service, the Division engineer will also turn off the stop switch on top of the car or the stop switch in the pit. This should alert the elevator company in case the responsible party has removed the red tag and asked the elevator company to repair the elevator.

    I believe the meetings held in Northern California and Southern California assisted all parties in understanding the problems faced by the industry in assuring the continued safe operation of elevators in the State of California. As members of the industry if you have topics you wish to discuss, please inform the Division of these questions and additional meetings will be scheduled to address your concerns. Again, thank you for your attendance and the Division looks forward to continued dialog with the industry.

James L. Meyer
Principal Safety Engineer
DOSH - Elevator, Ride and Tramway Unit

JM:ct

(E-97-1)