Elevator Capital Planning and the Art of Learning to Surf
"You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Facilities managers face inevitable changes and must develop practices to navigate them effectively.
One of the great challenges in dealing with vertical transportation is understanding and responding to the industry, state and local regulatory requirements. Code requirements and their enforcement change periodically, but not at all times predictably, across all jurisdictions. It may sometimes seem as though building owners, property managers and facilities managers are accosted by rogue waves of code-required elevator upgrades which inundate operational budgets when they are not understood and expected.
What Is the Code, and why does it Change?
Changes to the ASME A17.1 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, particularly, have significant implications for building owners and property managers. This code, widely adopted in the United States and Canada, sets standards for the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of elevators. Updates to the code impact compliance requirements, safety features, accessibility, and operational considerations for both new and existing elevator systems.
The code follows a three-year publication cycle. The most recent editions have been released in 2019, 2022, and one currently scheduled for release in 2025. Between these main editions, ASME may issue addenda or interpretations to address urgent issues, clarify existing requirements, or respond to inquiries, ensuring the code remains relevant and responsive.
These editions can be enforced, in whole or in part, as soon as they are published, solely at the discretion of the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). This means that facilities professionals may have immediate responsibility to comply with the changes, requiring both time and funds, to meet the enforcement deadlines.
This is yet another reason why capital planning with elevator industry experts can pay off in the long run.
"Change before you have to." – Jack Welch
Proactive facilities managers implement changes to avoid costly reactive fixes.
Why is Capital Planning for Code important?
Having an elevator or escalator shut down due to lack of code-compliance stands out as a worst-possible scenario. Short of that, spending thousands of dollars out of operating budget funds on an unexpected, but required, upgrade is a close second. How then, does one avoid either of those situations?
Your elevator consultant has direct, applicable knowledge about the pending changes to the elevator code. More importantly, they understand in a comprehensive manner, how those changes will affect your specific vertical transportation assets at each location.
Said differently, not all changes in code will affect your assets and not all changes will be adopted in your area. By engaging in capital planning with your elevator expert, you will be able to understand and react only to those code requirements that affect your assets, allowing the most efficient means to formulate your budget.
Recent changes, such as the requirement for Door Lock Monitoring, Enhanced Emergency Communication, and Improved Door Reopening Detection are being enforced to differing degrees across the United States, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
ATIS has helped customers:
Understand the requirements and applicability to the portfolio
Properly prepare budgets for their implementation
Validate that pricing for projects meets customary standards
Ensure completion of related projects in a timely manner
Just as experienced wave-riders can survey the swells coming into land, ATIS consultants can help you predict, prepare and execute a plan to smoothly adjust to new enforcement.
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order." – Alfred North Whitehead
Balancing operational stability with innovative upgrades, like retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, is key in facilities management.
The elevator code, in response to input from many sources, continues to evolve and change, ensuring safer and more efficient vertical transportation. The resulting periodic updates mean the waves of code requirements will continue to roll inexorably into shore. Partnering with your elevator consultant each year to capital plan for pending requirements will help you keep your budgets afloat and your head above water.