Pre-Job Walk on an Occupied-Building Modernization
You are starting a five-week modernization of the only elevator in an occupied six-stop office building - new controller, machine, car, door operator and fixtures. During the pre-job walk you find:
- pit depth 1.5 m; the only access is a loose 1.2 m wooden step ladder lying in the pit; there is 20 mm of standing water at the sump end;
- the pit light is a bare lampholder fed from a circuit that also serves the machine room; there is no GFCI receptacle in the pit;
- the car top has no railing; the car-top stop switch works, but the inspection station is a pendant on a 1.5 m cord stored loose on the car top;
- the mainline disconnect is a lockable three-pole switch in the machine room, but the machine room door has no lock and the room is being used for storage;
- there is an unlabeled existing conduit run crossing the hoistway with no record of what it feeds.
Your crew will be on the car top for most of the job. Other trades need machine-room access for HVAC work, and the tenant has been promised the elevator back in five weeks.
1. Which findings stop work before anything is removed, and which can be corrected during the job? Justify each.
Read the worked answer
Stop work now on the pit. A 1.5 m pit needs a permanently installed ladder, not a loose wooden step ladder, and standing water combined with 120 V lighting that has no GFCI protection is an electrocution combination - and the pit is where the crew spends the first days. The bare lampholder with no GFCI receptacle gets corrected in the same operation, because a pit needs its own lighting and a GFCI-protected receptacle for portable tools. The unlocked machine room also stops work: it contains the disconnect and will contain the new controller, and the code requires it to be secured against unauthorized access. A storage room with a live disconnect and an open door is not secured.
Correct during the job but plan for it now: the car-top guard and the inspection station layout. The stop switch and inspection pendant must be within reach of the person on the car top at all times, and the guard has to be installed before the car top is used as a work platform for sustained periods. The unlabeled conduit is not a stop, but it must be traced and identified before anyone drills, cuts or pulls wire near it.
2. Describe the lockout and tagout plan, given a single elevator and other trades wanting machine-room access.
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'Off' is not a lockout. The plan must cover a single disconnecting means shared by several trades. Identify every source: mainline disconnect, machine-room lighting, pit light circuit, machine-room receptacles, sump pump, and any control power fed from another panel. Every person working on the equipment applies a personal lock and tag to a group lockout hasp; the key stays with that person, and the building's master key cannot defeat it. Prove the circuit dead at the point of work with a tester rated for the voltage, and re-prove after any break in the work.
Other trades get a keyed procedure and a sign-in sheet, not a borrowed key. The disconnect stays locked with a tag stating who applied it, why, and a contact number. For the temporary power the new controller needs during testing, write down who controls it, when it may be energized, and how the hoistway is cleared and communicated before the first run. That last item is where single-elevator modernizations hurt people, because the car moves under test power while other trades still think the machine room is theirs.
3. What do you put in writing before the first bolt comes out?
Read the worked answer
A written out-of-service notice to the building owner or manager covering the dates, the fact that the car will be unavailable, that the hoistway and pit are a controlled hard-hat area, and who to call. A job hazard analysis covering the pit, the car top, the hoistway, rigging and electrical work. The deficiencies found on the walk, with photographs, and a clear statement of which belong to the owner and which are in your scope - the pit ladder and the GFCI receptacle are likely to be required as part of the alteration and must not be discovered at final inspection.
The alteration permit and AHJ notification, since a controller and machine replacement is an alteration needing inspection at defined stages. A schedule showing the five weeks with the safety corrections in the first days rather than traded away to protect the date. And a note that the elevator is the only one in the building, so the out-of-service period is a contractual commitment, not a target.