Elevator inspections

The standard your code is probably built on

Almost no jurisdiction writes its own elevator inspection rules from scratch. Instead, states and cities adopt a building code that incorporates the elevator industry's own safety standard, ASME A17.1, by reference.

"The ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators has become the accepted guide throughout North America for the design, construction, installation, operation, inspection, testing, maintenance, alteration, and repair of elevators, escalators and related conveyances."

Source: Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, ASME

New York City is the clearest example of this pattern. Its own building code does not set an inspection frequency at all; it sends the reader straight to ASME's table.

"Elevators, escalators, moving walkways, material lifts, VRC's and dumbwaiters shall be inspected and tested in accordance with the schedule set forth in Table N1 of ASME 17.1."

Source: NYC Administrative Code, Title 28, Article 304, City of New York

That means the city code text alone will not tell a board how often its elevator must be inspected. The real answer sits inside whichever edition of ASME A17.1 the city has adopted, and editions change over time.

Florida's example: a fixed annual number

Florida departs from the reference-the-standard pattern and writes its own frequency directly into statute.

"All elevators or other conveyances subject to this chapter must be annually inspected by a certified elevator inspector or by a municipality or county under contract with the division."

Source: Florida Statute 399.061, Florida Elevator Safety Act, The Florida Senate

A passed inspection is not a permanent status. In Florida it is good for one year, and then the cycle starts again with a certified inspector, not the maintenance company doing routine service.

What to actually check for your building

Only Florida's annual requirement and New York City's ASME-table pointer were confirmed for this course; most other states and cities have their own arrangement, and it should not be assumed to match either one. Two calls settle it: your local building department, which can name the adopted code edition and any state elevator-inspector certification rule, and your elevator maintenance vendor, whose contract usually already references the applicable inspection cycle.

Do not let a maintenance company's routine service visits substitute for the code-required inspection. Service and inspection are different events, performed under different authority, even when the same technician shows up for both.