By Al Barbarino
The city is aiming to close a loophole in elevator licensing laws that threatens the safety of millions New Yorkers every day, according to some members of the council.
“Right now, My Cousin Vinny could be working on the elevator in your building,” said Peter Vallone Jr. who has co-sponsored two bills with Councilman James Vacca that would tighten regulations governing the inspection of the city’s 60,000 elevators.
It was a humorous yet disconcerting reference to the movie starring Joe Pesci as an out-of-his depth lawyer in a southern court caper, Vallone implying that inexperienced inspectors “literally hold your life in their hands.”
“People in our city are entitled to the knowledge that the elevator inspector is the most qualified they possibly can be,” added Vacca. “Licensing would give that assurance to people.”
Members of the City Council and the Department of Buildings convened on Monday at the Council’s 250 Broadway headquarters to discuss the bills, one of which would close a regulatory gap that exempts thousands of city elevator mechanics from licensing regulations.
Each year, companies contracted through the DOB inspect each of the city’s approximately 60,000 elevators; companies hired by building owners also perform their own inspections once each year (and the DOB’s 22 licensed inspectors perform roughly 25,000 audits).
But none of the estimated 5,000 to 7,000 mechanics working for these companies, who engage in everything from “altering, inspecting, maintaining, repairing, servicing or testing elevators” throughout the year, are licensed by the DOB, nor does the agency have the authority to request training records for these workers, DOB Commissioner Robert D LiMandri said during a reading of pre-written testimony.
Vacca called it a “major loophole” and a “threat to the safety of millions of New Yorkers,” adding that New Yorkers are 14 to 17 percent more likely to be involved in elevator accidents than people who live in states that have enacted strict licensing standards.
The proposed bill would require elevator workers to have five years of experience and the completion of an approved training program. Ultimately they would earn the title “Elevator Technician.”
LiMandri welcomed the opportunity to work with the Council on the bill, but his assertion that mechanics should be “adequately and periodically trained” and “be able to provide the health and fitness to carry out their duties” fell short of the Council panel’s expectations, which in addition to Vacca and Vallone, Jr. included Gail Brewer and Robert Jackson, among others.
“That may be the most minimal requirement I’ve ever heard of, let alone for any mechanic,” Vallone, Jr. said. “Apparently I’m trained to be one — I’m breathing and I’m here,” he added, as a few laughs sputtered across the packed conference room.
The second bill would require the addition of “break plates” on elevator hoist cables, preventing sudden shifts while elevator car doors are open.
Roughly one quarter of the city’s elevators have this safety device in place, according to LiMandri’s testimony.
The device might have saved the life of Suzanne Hart, an advertising executive who was crushed to death by her office elevator at 285 Madison Ave. last December. It was one of two tragic elevator-related deaths that underscored the discussion. A 44-year-old elevator mechanic also died last month after being electrocuted servicing an elevator.
LiMandri said he would work with the city to strengthen licensing requirements, but added that “logistical difficulties” would need to be worked through on the safety bill.
Mainly, some elevators don’t have space for the safety device, and it is only applicable to certain “traction-type” machines, but other options could be determined, he added.
All were in agreement that more should be done to make the city’s elevators safer, but LiMandri pointed out that the 43 elevator accidents in 2011 represented a 60 percent decrease since 2007, a statistic that even Vallone, Jr. called “impressive.”
There were three elevator-related deaths each year between 2009 and 2011, down from five in 2007 and 2008.
