We hope that this message finds our friends, clients, and associates doing well under the circumstances. For our part, we have found the response of our community has been with kindness, responsibility, and resilience.
The COVID-19 challenge for the elevator industry is preventing the spread of the virus while at the same time keeping elevators operating and respecting the Ontario government’s directive to keep infrastructure projects moving ahead.
Discussed in this message:
- Current operating procedures reported by elevator contractors;
- How this may affect your elevator maintenance or elevator projects;
- Our firm’s procedures with regard to offering elevator consulting.
Current operating procedures reported by elevator contractors
Elevator contractors, including multinationals and smaller independent operators, have largely reported that they intend to offer construction, modernization, and maintenance uninterrupted. There is at least one exception to this – we have a project in which an independent elevator contractor has discontinued work at a large commercial office modernization.
Elevator contractor office staff are continuing to work from home. Certain operating procedures will obviously change with respect to social distancing.
How this may affect your elevator maintenance or elevator project
For now, construction and modernization projects are reportedly moving ahead. One major contractor has indicated delays due to the sourcing of materials from affected areas in China, but others have so far not encountered this problem.
Elevator maintenance is also reported to be moving ahead as regularly scheduled. One challenge we have encountered is in servicing homes for the elderly, which may refuse any visitors. This presents a problem when mandatory elevator maintenance is at the point of being overdue. This should be handled case-by-case. We are available to advise at no cost, and are willing to render an engineering opinion if that helps you.
The elevator safety authority in Ontario (TSSA) will be staying away from hospitals, homes for the elderly, and community housing for now. presumably, there will be no enforcement action against missed maintenance for the time being.
Our firm’s procedures with regard to offering elevator consulting
Rooney, Irving and Associates will continue to fulfil our obligations and offer our services, albeit with some modifications to our standard work. All of our teams are now set up to be working from home. For monitoring of projects, we will shift towards photographs rather than dispatching persons to sites. Elevator reviews in commercial sites may continue, especially when the sites are at highly reduced occupancy and social distancing can be guaranteed. We will be continuing the tendering of projects through releasing detailed site notes of and photographs of sites already on file, as opposed to “job showings”.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. Any consulting from us with regard to COVID-19 will be offered without fee, so don’t hesitate to reach out.