The provincial elevator safety regulator in Ontario, TSSA, reports that they have issued 212 orders to building owners in the last few months just for not having keys to an elevator’s machine room available on site. A simple way to avoid these citations and avoid the follow-up inspection fees is to equip your building attendant or alternatively use a lock box to always have an elevator machine room key available.
The notion that the elevator machine room is the domain of the elevator service contractor is incorrect. Ultimately the responsibility for the elevator machine room lies with the building owner and their chosen representatives.