Will your elevators be up to code?
Ontario’s New Elevator Laws and Safety Regulations
Ontario’s elevator laws and safety regulations are slated to be updated in early 2022. They affect the approximately 40,000 commercial elevators and 20,000 residential elevators in the province and are intended to improve safety and reliability. KJA’s COO, Rob Isabelle, says “This revision is substantial and will affect the entire elevator industry and our clients”. For example, technical specifications have been expanded and may result in increased service costs to building owners and property managers. New performance reporting for residential buildings may affect property values and tenant satisfaction.
Quick summary of what’s changing:
Major changes
Significant changes to door reopening devices
Significant changes to emergency communication devices
Elevator seismic requirements, inc. seismic design forces, plus added more about emergency operation and signaling in earthquake conditions
Seismic requirements for escalators and moving walks similarly significantly expanded, much of which is new to the code
New sections on Occupant Evacuation Operation
Introduced new requirement for “Fire Service Access Elevators”, which also requires hoistway lighting under FEO
Permits limited automatic resets of certain escalator safety switches
Section on wind turbine elevators added
Where car top railings needed changed; even single elevators likely to need railings now
Elastomeric buffers permitted
Escalators now require a braking-distance monitor feature
Other changes that will affect a lot of units:
Expanded requirements for on-site maintenance records
Introduced new rules on sway control guides
Lots of changes to categories and naming of special purpose elevators
New section on outdoor emergency elevators added
Several small changes to Appendix E (a lot dealing with braille and accessibility)
Terminal speed-limiting devices now also need to apply an emergency brake in certain situations
New section on “executable software”, effectively requires software have version identifiers that cannot be modified
Introduced updated electromagnetic immunity standards (instead of European standard, now using ISO standard but allowing EN compliance for 1 year)
Data tag rules introduced to ensure they are “durable”
Car door contact no longer needs to be an “electrical device”
More prescriptive rules about hoistway access key locations and details
Normal terminal stopping devices must detect the position of the car
Potential allowance for remote or self-testing of hoistway FAIDs
… and more! With less than a year before the changes to the code come into effect, there’s going to be a time crunch to get everything scheduled with service providers.
If you’d like to know how the new safety regulations and laws affect your elevator portfolio and your current service contract, contact us as we would be happy to guide you through these changes. We know planning and keeping your units compliant to code can be a difficult process to navigate. We are here to help!