The newly revised edition of the ASME Elevator Code has introduced sweeping changes in several areas. Here is a quick overview of the most important requirements you should be aware of and what steps to take to make your elevators ASME-compliant.
What’s New in the ASME Elevator Code
The twenty-second edition of ASME A17.1-2019 (or CSA B44-2019, if you are in Canada) brought about numerous changes to elevator standards. Noteworthy modifications include updates to the following:
- Door requirements for occupant evacuation and private residence elevators
- Door protection requirements for passenger elevators
- Seismic requirements for elevators and escalators
- Emergency communication requirements to enable communication with hearing-impaired passengers
The New Elevator Code Communication Requirements
Currently, 95% of the one million elevators in the U.S. forward calls to anything from a traditional answering service to the cell phone of the elevator service company owner. None of these solutions are legal or up to code, but until now, there has been little enforcement.
The new elevator code aims to change that by standardizing communication requirements across the board and doubling down on enforcement.
All new elevators must now feature the following systems to better assist hard-of-hearing, nonverbal, or unconscious passengers and detect false alarms:
- Two-way communication: New elevators must have a panel for sending two-way messages between passengers and the elevator monitoring company that doesn’t require audio communication.
- Video elevator monitoring: Authorized personnel must be able to view a video feed of the elevator car at all times.
If an elevator has a rise of 60 feet or more, it must have both voice and video communication that can function with an internet connection.
An Elevator Monitoring Company You Can Trust
At ELEVATE MONITORING, we understand that many property owners and building managers find the recent ASME elevator code changes confusing.
How do you make your elevators code compliant? Where do you go for this type of monitoring?
You shouldn’t go through this alone. At ELEVATE MONITORING, our turnkey elevator monitoring solution builds on decades of expertise to bring you peace of mind. We are a UL-listed provider, and all our systems are fully ASME-, IBC-, and ADA-compliant with voice, video, and two-way text response functionalities. Our trained and certified operators are exclusively U.S.-based and available 24/7.
Call us at 1-877-990-9191 to tell us about your needs, learn more about our solutions, and get your elevators up to code.
