Maintenance, Inspection and Safety Practices: Programs, Tests and Safe Work
Maintenance is where the exam becomes practical: documented programs, scheduled examinations and tests, the working relationship with TSSA, and the safety practices that keep mechanics alive in pits, on car tops and in hoistways.
The maintenance control program
- B44 requires a written maintenance control program (MCP) for each device: the tasks to be performed, their frequencies, and the records that prove they were done. Records stay with the device and are produced on request.
- Routine maintenance covers cleaning, lubrication, adjustment and examination of ropes, brakes, door locks, contacts and governors. A periodic thorough examination and testing cycle goes deeper and includes operational tests of safeties, buffers and emergency modes.
- Tests are grouped in categories: Category 1 tests annually, Category 3 every three years and Category 5 every five years. Which test sits in which category is listed in B44, so check the table rather than assume.
Inspection and enforcement
- When a TSSA inspector arrives, produce the records, accompany the inspection, and demonstrate the required tests. Deficiencies are written up as orders with deadlines, and an unsafe device can be sealed out of service.
- Returning a device to service after a safety-related defect requires correction, verification and a record entry. The contractor and owner must be told, and TSSA notified where the regulation requires it.
- Never sign for work that was not done; the record is the evidence of maintenance in any later investigation.
Working safely
- Lock out, tag out and prove dead before electrical work; use the pit stop switch and the car-top inspection station; keep clear of the counterweight run and sheaves.
- On car tops use the inspection speed only, with fall protection where required, and never treat a bypassed door circuit as a normal working condition.
Worked example
A traction elevator's last Category 5 test is dated 12 June 2019, and the 2023 annual visit is signed off. The owner asks when the next five-year test is due and what happens if the governor fails to trip during it. Reasoning: the Category 5 interval is five years, so the test falls due around 12 June 2024. If the governor does not trip within its specified range, the device is unsafe: stop it, place it out of service, tag it, record the finding, notify the owner and contractor, repair or replace the governor, re-verify the sealed trip setting, retest, and only then return the car to service.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating the annual Category 1 visit as a full Category 5 examination.
- Running the car at normal speed from the car-top inspection station.
- Leaving a device in service after a failed safety test because the building is busy.
- Keeping maintenance records in a truck instead of with the device.