NEII Insider 2022: Edition 10

Construction Inclusion Week Recap

The second annual Construction Inclusion Week was held on October 17-21. Construction Inclusion Week was founded by a group of general contractors in 2021 to harness the collective power of the construction industry to build awareness regarding the need to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry.

NEII honored Construction Inclusion Week by sharing a photo collage on social media to show the industry’s commitment to increasing inclusion in the workforce. In addition, NEII served as a source for industry resources at NEII.org and again promoted the industry’s inclusive PPE Challenge to broaden the awareness campaign further throughout the construction industry.

If you are interested in getting involved as well, take a look at the information at constructioninclusionweek.com and make your plans for next year’s event, which will be held October 16-20, 2023.

Nevada Publishes Bulletin on A17.3 Implementation

The Nevada Division of Industrial Relations, Mechanical Compliance Section (MCS) published a bulletin this month to address A17.3 implementation issues in the Silver State.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) A17.3 Code for Existing Elevators and Escalators is a retroactive elevator safety code, designed to make older elevator equipment as safe as possible. In short, this code requires elevators to be brought up to the new elevator safety standard of roughly 20 years ago if such upgrades are possible.

In the October 5 bulletin, MCS reiterated that compliance with A17.3 is required as soon as new editions of the code book become effective, which can create challenges for elevator owners. To help address this, the MCS is proposing to give owners an additional year to comply with provisions of new versions of A17.3.

New editions of ASME A17.3 are published every three to four years and are then adopted automatically by Nevada six months after publication.

The bulletin highlighted three elevator safety items required by A17.3 – door restrictors, door lock monitoring, and ascending car overspeed protection – as among the required upgrades currently facing Nevada elevator owners. Elevator owners who find that conforming to A17.3 requirements to be impractical may apply to the MCS for exemption from such requirements on either a temporary or permanent basis.

For more information, read the full bulletin here.

Oklahoma Suspends Enforcement of Sections of A17.3

The Oklahoma Department of Labor has determined that enforcement of ASME 17.3, Safety Code for Existing Elevators and Escalators, sections 3.10.13, 3.10.14, and 3.13, will be suspended effective October 12, 2022. Each of the suspended provisions concern ascending car overspeed protection and unintended car movement.

The provisions were not scheduled to take effect until July 1, 2030, but the Department determined that a suspension of enforcement is warranted given the costs of implementation. According to the memorandum issued by the Department, estimates indicate that the cost for the required modifications could be somewhere between $20,000 and $80,000 per elevator.

The Department will notify elevator contractors prior to any further change in enforcement.

New York Work Order Guide Published

The New York City Department of Buildings published a Stop Work Order Issuance Guide to provide the industry with better insight as to why a Partial and Full Stop Work Order may be issued at a work site. This guidance document is publicly available and intended to provide clarity on this important topic.

Stop Work Orders (SWO) are issued to immediately halt construction activity when an inspector finds dangerous conditions on a work site that are posing hazards to workers or the public. An inspector can issue a Partial or Full SWO. A Full SWO stops work for all those on the job site. A Partial SWO is issued for a portion or specific job site area.

The guide includes various descriptions of conditions, relevant cited section(s) of the law, and if a Full or Partial SWO may be issued. For more details, read the full SWO Issuance Guide here.

Upcoming Recruitments

The elevator industry is hiring. Below are the upcoming recruitments for elevator constructor apprentices. Please share these opportunities as appropriate.

Currently, there is an open recruitment in:

Las Vegas, NV until November 8

Other upcoming recruitments:

December 1-30 in Denver, CO
January 2-16 in Detroit, MI
January 14-February 14 in Poughkeepsie, NY

For more information on the industry and training and recruitment opportunities, please visit neiep.org.

Code Development Update

ASME A17/CSA B44 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators: ASME A17/CSA B44: The next edition is scheduled for publication in Q1 next year and will be the 2023 edition. There are still some administrative steps to finalize the process, but all of the working committees are now focused on changes for the following edition.

ICC International Building Code Series (I-Codes): Public Comment Hearings for the Group B changes for 2024, which include proposals for the International Existing Building Code, International Residential Code, and structural requirements in the International Building Code were held September 14-18 in Louisville, KY. All changes are complete pending online voting. One notable change was the addition of language in the IBC, IRC, and IPMC to reference the hoistway door location requirements in A17.1/B44.

ICC A117.1 Standard for Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities: The A117 committee is meeting virtually every two weeks to review proposed revisions for the next cycle. The goal is to complete the work in time for publication at the end of 2023.

NFPA 70 National Electric Code – Changes for the 2023 edition have been completed. Publication is expected in 2023.

NFPA 101 Life Safety Code and NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code – Second Draft meetings for the 2024 editions have been completed. Publication of the 2024 editions is expected in 2023.