PRINTER'S NO. 1589
No. 1247 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY ARMSTRONG, JANUARY 21, 1998
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JANUARY 21, 1998
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 2, 1929 (P.L.1518, No.452), entitled, as
2 reenacted and amended, "An act regulating the construction,
3 equipment, maintenance, operation and inspection of
4 elevators; granting certain authority to and imposing certain
5 duties upon the Department of Labor and Industry; providing
6 fees for inspection of elevators, certificates of operation,
7 and approval of plans; providing penalties for violations of
8 this act; and repealing all acts or parts of acts
9 inconsistent with this act," providing for technical
10 standards; further providing for regulations and fees;
11 increasing penalties; and providing for accident reporting
12 requirements.
13 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
14 hereby enacts as follows:
15 Section 1. Section 1 of the act of May 2, 1929 (P.L.1518,
16 No.452), referred to as the Elevator Regulation Law, reenacted
17 and amended April 8, 1937 (P.L.277, No.69), is amended by adding
18 a definition to read:
19 Section 1. Definitions.--Be it enacted, &c., That, as used
20 in this act, * * *
21 "Existing elevator" shall mean an elevator approved by the
22 Department of Labor and Industry prior to the effective date of
1 this definition.
2 * * *
3 Section 2. Sections 2 and 3 of the act, amended July 29,
4 1941 (P.L.581, No.246), are amended to read:
5 Section 2. [General Requirement.--] Elevator Requirements.--
6 (a) Every elevator, as described in section one of this act,
7 shall be so constructed, equipped, maintained and operated, with
8 respect to the supporting members, elevator car, shaftway,
9 guides, cables, doors and gates, safety stops and mechanisms,
10 locking mechanisms, electrical apparatus and wiring, mechanical
11 apparatus, counterweights, and all other appurtenances, as to
12 safely sustain the load which the said elevator is designed and
13 intended to carry.
14 (b) The following technical standards for elevators shall
15 apply:
16 (1) The sections of the most current edition of the "Safety
17 Code of Elevators and Escalators" published by the American
18 Society of Mechanical Engineers entitled: Elevator Hoist ways;
19 Hoist way Enclosures and Related Construction; Machinery and
20 equipment for electric elevators; Hydraulic elevators; Sidewalk
21 freight elevators; Hand and Gravity Elevators; Dumbwaiters;
22 Escalators; Moving walks; Engineering and type tests; Design
23 data and Formulas; Material lifts; Special industrial service
24 elevators; Rack and pinion elevators; Inclined elevators; Screw
25 column elevators; Elevators used for construction; Inclined
26 stairway chair lifts; and inclined and vertical wheelchair
27 lifts. Other sections of ASME/ANSI A 17.1 not specifically named
28 in this section are not being adopted at this time.
29 (2) Existing elevators being altered, repaired, replaced or
30 maintained shall meet the section entitled "Alterations,
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1 Repairs, Replacements and Maintenance" of the most current
2 edition of ASME/ANSI A 17.1, "Safety Code for Elevators and
3 Escalators" except that the references to ASME/ANSI A 17.3
4 entitled "Safety Code for Existing Elevators" shall not apply.
5 (3) Builders hoists shall comply with the most current
6 edition of ASME/ANSI A 10.4 and ASME/ANSI 10.5.
7 (4) Ski lifts shall comply with the most current edition of
8 ASME/ANSI A 77.1.
9 (5) Man lifts shall comply with the most current edition of
10 ASME/ANSI A 90.1.
11 (6) Conveyors and related equipment shall comply with the
12 following sections of the most current edition of ASME/ANSI B
13 20.1: Part 5, entitled "General Safety Standards," section 5.1
14 through 5.13 and 5.15 (standards), section 6.6 (inclined
15 reciprocating conveyors), and section 6.21 (vertical
16 reciprocation conveyors).
17 (c) Nothing in this act shall be construed to disallow
18 third-party elevator inspections.
19 (d) No certificate of operation for any "man lift" shall be
20 refused or suspended, unless such elevator is found to have been
21 incorrectly installed, to be mechanically defective, or to be
22 operating under some unnecessary hazard.
23 Section 3. Rules and Regulations.--(a) To carry out the
24 provisions and the intent and purpose of this act, the
25 department shall have power, and its duty shall be, to make,
26 alter, amend or repeal rules and regulations for the
27 construction, installation, maintenance, operation and
28 inspection of elevators used or destined for use in this
29 Commonwealth, and shall make specifications for the construction
30 and equipment of such elevators. No elevator shall be permitted
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1 to be installed and used in this Commonwealth which does not
2 comply with the rules and regulations herein provided for.
3 (b) The department may modify the technical standards set
4 forth in section 2 for elevator construction, repair,
5 maintenance and inspection in its rules and regulations and
6 shall not require reshackling more than once every two years.
7 (c) Subchapter A of the administrative provisions of the
8 department's current regulations found at 34 Pa. Code §§ 7.2
9 through 7.12, excluding the definitions, shall remain in effect
10 until the department promulgates new regulations under this act.
11 All other elevator regulation found at 34 Pa. Code §§ 7.31
12 through 7.487 are hereby repealed.
13 (d) When the controller is replaced in an existing elevator,
14 the elevator shall be modified to comply with the emergency
15 operation and signaling devices requirements of the most current
16 edition of ASME/ANSI A 17.1 "Safety Code for Elevators."
17 (e) No rules and regulations shall be adopted prohibiting
18 the use of man lifts, except only when such man lifts are found
19 to have been incorrectly installed, to be mechanically
20 defective, or to be operating under some unnecessary hazard.
21 Section 3. Section 4 of the act, amended December 10, 1974
22 (P.L.862, No.291), is amended to read:
23 Section 4. Examination of Inspectors and Fees Therefor.--(a)
24 No person shall inspect elevators unless he has passed a written
25 examination prescribed by the department. Application for
26 examination shall be made in writing, upon a form furnished by
27 the department, [and shall be accompanied by an examination fee
28 of forty dollars ($40). If the applicant is successful in
29 passing the said examination, a certificate of competency and a
30 commission shall be issued upon the payment of an additional fee
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1 of twenty dollars ($20)] and certificate of competency and
2 commissions shall be issued by the department. All inspectors
3 shall be required to secure a new credential card each year, by
4 application to the department[, which application shall be
5 accompanied by a fee of ten dollars ($10)]. The Secretary of
6 Labor and Industry may suspend any commission for due cause, but
7 no commission may be revoked until the inspector has been
8 granted a hearing.
9 (b) The department shall establish a schedule of fees for
10 examinations, certificates of competency and commissions, and
11 credentials cards. The fees shall be based on the costs incurred
12 by the department in carrying out the programs established under
13 this act. Upon the effective date of this subsection the interim
14 fees schedule which will remain in effect until the department
15 promulgates fees as provided in this section is as follows:
16 (1) Application for examination - fifty dollars ($50).
17 (2) Certificate of competency and commission - thirty-five
18 dollars ($35).
19 (3) Credential card application - twenty dollars ($20).
20 (c) Within two years after the effective date of this
21 subsection, all inspectors shall meet the qualification
22 requirements of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers'
23 standards entitled "Qualified Elevator Inspector," ASM QEI-1,
24 in addition to the other requirements of this section.
25 (d) No person shall inspect elevators who is not a "bona
26 fide" employe of the Commonwealth or of an insurance carrier
27 authorized to do business in this Commonwealth or of a company
28 engaged in the making of inspections on a fee or contract basis
29 when performing inspections on such basis for an insurance
30 carrier. For the purposes of this section, "employe" is defined
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1 as any person who is directly responsible to the employer for
2 all work performed, and who receives as compensation a regular
3 salary based on full-time or part-time employment and for whom
4 workers' compensation insurance is required by law to be carried
5 by the employer. The term "employe" does not include any person
6 who inspects elevators on a commission or fee-per-inspection
7 basis.
8 Section 4. Section 7 of the act, June 23, 1972 (P.L.485,
9 No.156), is amended to read:
10 Section 7. Frequency of Inspections.--Every passenger
11 elevator and escalator shall be inspected [four times in] once
12 every [twelve] six months; freight elevators, including gravity
13 elevators, shall be inspected at least twice in every twelve
14 months; dumb-waiters, hoists and other lifting apparatus shall
15 be inspected at least once in every twelve months; temporary
16 construction elevators shall be load-tested at the time of each
17 erection and inspected every three months thereafter.
18 Section 5. Section 16 of the act is amended to read:
19 Section 16. Penalties.--Any person who shall violate any of
20 the provisions of this act, or the rules and regulations of the
21 department, as herein provided for, or who shall fail or neglect
22 to pay the fees herein provided for, shall, for the first
23 offense, be penalized by a fine of not more than [one] five
24 hundred dollars and costs, and, upon nonpayment thereof,
25 imprisonment in the county jail for not more than ten days, and
26 for each subsequent offense shall be penalized by a fine of not
27 more than [two hundred dollars] two thousand dollars and costs,
28 and, upon nonpayment thereof, imprisonment in the county jail
29 for not more than thirty days. Any person who shall continue to
30 operate his elevator or other lifting apparatus after notice to
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1 discontinue its use as set forth in section nine of this act,
2 shall be penalized in a like action by a fine of five dollars
3 for each day the said elevator or lifting apparatus has been
4 operated after the service of the said notice, in addition to
5 the fines above set forth.
6 All fines collected under this act shall be forwarded to the
7 Department of Labor and Industry, who shall transmit the same to
8 the State Treasury, through the Department of Revenue.
9 Section 6. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
10 Section 17. Accident Reporting Requirements.--The owner of
11 any elevator equipment or party responsible for maintaining such
12 elevator or any other such devices that is subject to this act,
13 shall notify the department of any accident involving an
14 elevator or other device which results in a fatal injury within
15 five (5) days of the fatality and shall notify the department of
16 any accident which results in the hospitalization of any
17 individual within fifteen (15) days of the accident in a manner
18 prescribed by the department.
19 Section 7. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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