Region 1 Elevator Inspectors: Ken Pomajevich and Candace Lee. (Not shown: Howard Long.)

Region 1 includes Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties. Ken covers the northern part of the region while Candace covers the southern area. Both Ken and Candace agree that safety is the most important part of their jobs. Ken has been inspecting elevators for L&I for two years. Prior to that, he spent 27 years in the construction sector of the elevator industry. Ken can be reached at 360-661-0495. Candace has been with L&I as an elevator inspector for nine years. She came to the agency after working as an assistant elevator inspector for the City of Seattle for five years. Candace can be reached at 425-290-1350.

Labor and Industries and the State Building Code Council will be adopting new codes in 2004. L&I will adopt the ASME A17.1 2000 code, along with the 2002 and 2003 addenda. This code has major changes from the currently adopted ASME A17.1 1996 code. L&I will also be adopting the ASME A18.1 1999 and 2001 addenda for Platform Lifts and Stairway Chairlifts. The anticipated date for adoption of these codes by L&I is March 2004.

In addition, the WAC 296-96 codes will be updated to address issues such as elevator mechanic and contractor licensing as required by Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5942, along with others that will take effect March of 2004. There will be some changes to the minimum standards to all existing elevators included in the new WAC rules as well.

L&I's elevator inspectors recently spent three days reviewing these codes in preparation for this adoption. The inspectors will be unavailable for inspections August 26-28 when they meet to review these codes again.

The Legislature has adopted the International Building Codes, and Building Code Council committees are currently doing comparisons of the building code amendments.

The adoption date for the International Building Codes is July 1, 2004.

I encourage everyone who is impacted by these changes to study the new codes as there are some substantial differences.

August 2003
Aug. 19: Advisory Committee meeting (subcommittee on residential units to also meet at this time), 9 to 11 a.m., Tukwila L&I office

Aug. 19: Industry meeting (industry participants only; not a public meeting), 11 a.m. to noon, Tukwila L&I office

Aug. 26-28: Elevator inspectors meeting/training (not a public meeting), Tukwila L&I office. (Inspectors will not be available for inspections on these dates.)

September 2003
Sept. 3: Subcommittee on residential units, 9 a.m. to noon, Tukwila L&I office

Sept. 16-18: Elevator inspectors meeting/training (not a public meeting), L&I Tukwila office. (Inspectors will not be available for inspections on these dates.)

October 2003
Oct. 7: Subcommittee on residential units, 9 a.m. to noon, Tukwila L&I office

November 2003
Nov. 5: Safety Fair, all day, Department of Transportation

Nov. 9-15: Elevator Escalator Safety Awareness Week, nationwide

Nov. 18: Advisory Committee meeting (subcommittee on residential units to also meet at this time), 9 to 11 a.m., Tukwila L&I office

Each month we will feature a question that was posed to our Technical Specialist, Becky Ernstes. This month's question:

Q: Is a fire recall device needed in a parking garage?

A: If the area in front of the elevator has the ability to trap smoke, a fire alarm initiating device is needed. In the ASME 1997 addenda, the wording was changed from smoke detectors initiating Phase I recall to "fire alarm initiating device." The definition for an initiating device per ANSI/NFPA 72 is: "A system component that originates transmission of a change-of-state condition, such as in a smoke detector, manual fire alarm box, or supervisory switch."

The local fire jurisdiction determines the type of device required. In most parking garages, heat detectors are required to initiate recall when a smoke detector will not work because of temperature requirements. (If the ambient temperature drops below 32 degrees, a smoke detector will not be allowed. Smoke detectors are usually rated to only operate above 32 degrees.)

Infrared smoke detectors that are not subject to hot or cold temperatures may also be approved.

If you would like to submit a question, please contact Becky at 360-902-6132, or e-mail ernb235@lni.wa.gov.

Do you or your customers need additional time to complete work? Do you need to request a variance on a code item? Do you need to change the information regarding the building owner? All of these forms can be found online. We have also updated our contractor's checklist, which can be found here as well.

August 2003  Edition 3