A recent state audit was heavily critical of the city’s inspections process for elevators, indicating the situation is dangerous and a legal liability for the city.

For instance, auditors visited 39 buildings in March that had a total of 61 elevators. Forty-six of those elevators did not have the required documentation of inspections.

“City officials have failed to ensure elevators and related equipment in the city are being inspected,” states the audit from the office of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “Finally, due to lack of monitoring, city officials do not know if building owners are in compliance with the code.”

But city officials have criticism of their own, saying the state requires inspections it used to do itself without providing any extra funding.

“I don’t know where the state expects where we’re going to get all this manpower from,” city Mayor David Roefaro said. “So we’re going to do the best we can with the manpower we have.”

Ironically, Roefaro traveled to Albany last week with several other mayors to meet DiNapoli and lobby against unfunded mandates.

The audit took place during the roughly seven-month period when the Fire Department oversaw the Codes Department. That merger was undone in late August by Roefaro.

Among the findings:

* City officials do not monitor and enforce the inspection of elevators and related equipment in the city.

* Officials do not have a system to inventory and track all elevators so they can be inspected and tested.

* The city does not track nor follow up on inspections and tests already performed.

Six elevator audits were released publicly recently by DiNapoli’s office, and Binghamton, Poughkeepsie and Troy were all criticized in a manner similar to Utica. Buffalo and Elmira were also audited.

Former codes head Raymond Beck, the city’s chief fire marshal, wrote a letter in response to the audit in which he said the city agreed with most of the state’s assertions.

He took issue, however, with the point that officials do not monitor or enforce inspections, pointing out commercial inspections include elevators.

The state responded that those inspections happen every three years, while elevator inspections are to be done every six months.

Beck, who could not be reached for comment, also said the city would strictly enforce the inspection of elevators and equipment in accordance with the code and would establish policy and procedures consistent with the code. He said the city has already established an elevator inventory.

Robert Palmieri, who was named to replace Beck as codes commissioner, said he wasn’t familiar with the issue until the audit was released. He said he plans to meet with fire officials to “address it immediately.”

“I need to look at what we need to do,” he said. “What’s the cost factor?”

He also said he wants to look at the systems in place in Buffalo and Elmira.

“I would like to find out what they’re doing without bringing in additional people and how we can do it to achieve that goal of the mandate by New York state,” he said.
Copyright 2010 The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York. Some rights reserved

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Elevators and Escalators market. Despite the current erosion in volume sales, primarily due to the slump in construction activity amid the recessionary climate in the world economy, the global market for Elevators and Escalators is expected to recover poise and register 647 thousand units in sales by 2015. Primary factors fingered to drive this growth include the need for more comfortable movement management systems, legislations mandating builders to provide safer passage within their facilities, and post recession resurgence in growth fundamentals such as improvement in infrastructure spends, softening of interest rates, and recovery in residential & non-residential construction. Sturdy demand patterns in Asia-Pacific also augurs well for the market.

Elevators and escalators are today ubiquitous machines installed in most constructions ranging from residential, commercial, industrial to hospital buildings. With modern architectural technologies enabling the widespread construction of skyscrapers erected hundreds of feet above the ground, elevators and escalators designed to transport people from floor to floor, have become crucial elements that make living and working in these buildings practical. In addition to making life convenient and easier, technology/engineering developments in operation and safety have helped these conveyance machines contribute significantly to the development of high-tech cityscapes of modern society. As the most efficient mass transit system in the world, elevators, and escalators form an integral part of the daily lives of millions of people around the world, helping them reach offices, apartments, super markets, public offices etc.

Given the high-strung sensitivity of Elevators and Escalators (E&E), which are building-integrated systems, to the overall health of the construction industry, the ongoing recession has not surprisingly thrown demand off-track with financial constraints and budgetary cuts, faced by builders, resulting in decline of orders for new installations. Unlike preventive maintenance, repairs and modernization business, which provides buffer by offering a relatively secure revenue source, new installation business is especially vulnerable to the recession.

Cancellation, postponement, and general weakness in new office, commercial and residential building projects as a result of lack of credit, rising vacancy rates, sharp falls in the number of applications for new building permits and cost cutting among commercial establishments, have played instrumental roles in negatively impacting new equipment order influx rates. Construction delays additionally result in hampering the commissioning and hand-over of the elevator thus impacting sales and revenues. Private construction and remodeling work has also been mauled down due to weak residential spending. Depreciation in home values, decline in new housing starts, crumbling consumer confidence, rising levels of unemployment, and reduction in household wealth, among others, resulted in adversely impacting residential building construction spends. Volatile price movements of raw materials coupled with recession induced price sensitivity among customers and intense price competition, which largely restricts pricing flexibility, have exerted extreme downward pressure on corporate bottomlines. Replacement of elevators in aging buildings has also been impacted with building modernization plans slowing down.

However, as the year 2010 limps out on a broken economy, improvement in the business environment and recovery in growth is forecast to be on cards in-sync with the expected recovery in residential and non-residential construction. Resurgence in infrastructure spends, improvement in liquidity situation, softening of interest rates, continued urbanization, favorable demographics, such as, growing number of senior citizens, will all help drive growth back into fore. In developed countries, ageing population is expected to drive demand for elevators in most residential facilities. Growth in the market, post recession, will also be driven by high population density, which will increase the pressure on the availability of living space and will therefore fuel the need to design flexible and efficient living space within the confines of tight ground space. The pressure to build even taller buildings is therefore expected to intensify and the scenario will generate substantial demand for new installations, particularly in the high-rise elevator segment.

As stated by the new market research report, Asia-Pacific is the largest regional market for Elevators and Escalators in terms of new unit sales, and continues to remain a key growth area for the world market, displaying a robust CAGR of about 7% over the analysis period. Economic growth, rapid industrialization, increased spending power, and rise in demand for residential & commercial property, particularly in regional powerhouses such as China and India, have led to increased construction activity in Asia-Pacific, over the recent years, which in turn has generated and continues to generate substantial market opportunities for elevators and escalators in the region. By product, elevators market is the largest segment. Growth in the elevators segment will be especially driven by geared elevators market.

Major market participants include Fujitec Co. Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Hyundai Elevators Co. Ltd., Kone Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, Schindler Group, ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG, and Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation, among others.

The research report titled “Elevators and Escalators: A Global Strategic Business Report”, announced by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a comprehensive review of trends, product developments, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities. The report provides market estimates and projections for the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. Product segments analyzed include Elevators (Gearless Elevators, Geared Elevators, and Hydraulic Elevators) and Escalators (Moving Stairways (Heavy-Duty Transit and Standard-Commercial) and Moving Walkways).

For more details about this comprehensive market research report, please visit – http://www.strategyr.com/Elevators_and_Escalators_Market_Report.asp

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a reputed publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company is globally recognized as one of the world’s largest market research publishers. The company employs over 800 people worldwide and publishes more than 1200 full-scale research reports each year. Additionally, the company also offers thousands of smaller research products including company reports, market trend reports, and industry reports encompassing all major industries worldwide.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
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At present, Hitachi is conducting its elevator and escalator business in these countries and regions through manufacturing, sales and service the Hitachi Group and its agents in each region.

What should you do if the lights go out in an elevator?
The possibility of the lights going off — it can happen. If the electricity goes off in the building, it could also go off in the elevator, but a generator in the elevator can keep the lights on, and most modern buildings have it. But what should you do? There’s normally a button, a call button, on the elevator panel. Check it out next time you’re in one. An elevator that’s maintained by Otis, anywhere in the world, if you press that button you’re instantly connected to someone in a call center. You connect, the person tells you what to do. They’re calming your nerves.

You shouldn’t try to pry the doors open or anything?
No. Even if you have enough strength to pry them open between two floors, you could slip and fall through the gap between the elevator cab and the floor, and that could kill you. Or the machine could suddenly start moving, and you could be killed. No, you press the button and the experts come take care of you.

And what if you have evidence that a demon is sharing the elevator with you?
Do you believe in the paranormal?

No.
Me neither.

But what if it happened?
If you’ve got, so to speak, the devil inside the elevator, press the call button. Call Otis. You’re trying to make this fun, I can understand that. But I’ve never heard of anything like this.

Okay, what if one of your fellow passengers bites you?
Smack the person across the face.

What if you don’t know who it was because it happened when the lights were out?
That’s probably the toughest question I’ve been asked. What to do if someone bites you inside an elevator. But to be serious, that button actually connects you directly … [You] press the button, you’re connected to security instantly. Within an instant. They can get the doors open and release the passengers within an instant. Today’s technology is so modern that the risks within an elevator are really minimal. It can’t happen, that’s the point I’m trying to make.

But people said the Titanic could never sink.
That’s a great point, because in 1853, Elijah Otis invented the safety brake — 157 years ago — and there hasn’t been a single instance of an elevator plummeting since.

An elevator has never, ever plummeted?
No, no, no. From one floor to another, an elevator might slip a little, but those are so few and far between, they’re not even recorded.

For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd

Nonetheless, it reminded my of a childhood favourite, The Best Cartoons From Punch from 1952, which had a clever elevator design that used no power at all, reprinted below. It is even more retro and energy efficient than Philip’s.

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Alberto Pinto, the interior designer, had made the design for the owner’s staircase, which included a clear and open glass elevator with parts of stainless steel. The outside of the elevator trunk and the elevator cabin needed to be made from mirror polished stainless steel, while the inside of the elevator trunk needed to be made from brushed stainless steel.

The elevator trunk is placed inside a straight staircase with a certain radius at each corner, this radius needed to be incorporated in the elevator trunk and needed to be made from mirror polished stainless steel. During the design discussions Lift Emotion proposed to have two special brushed stainless steel pipes as guiding for the cabin; this instead of the standard basic steel T shaped profiles used for ordinary elevator designs.

With the design, Lift emotion also had to incorporate the drive system within the limited space available under the elevator. Lift Emotion chose to use part of the available space and placed the cylinder opposite the elevator entrance. The interior designer requested that the cylinder would not be visible when standing inside the cabin.

This demand has resulted in using special telescopic cylinders with 4 synchronized stages, which is very unusual in the elevator world. The cylinder will be powered by means of a power pack with special electronically controlled valves ensuring a trouble free and absolute smooth ride. Using a cylinder with 4 stages means also that some of these stages need to be guided to avoid bending of the cylinder under load. The demanded radius on the outside of the trunk will be used to incorporate a guiding system.

In order to secure the high quality of each elevator Lift Emotion prefers to bring in big pre assembled parts of a glass elevator, normally one or two sections. However with the height limitations above the sundeck at Dunya Yachts, Lift Emotion needed to make a section per deck meaning 4 separate sections.

With the experienced engineers at Dunya Yachts, the design ideas of Alberto Pinto, the craftsmanship of List, the interior outfitter, and Lift Emotion’s passion for elevators, has enabled this project to be an eye catching feature of this impressive superyacht.
For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is fully supporting an upgrade.

“To say this very, incredibly successful Hiawatha line should not have improvements, I think just shows a hatred for anything that’s rail related,” Barrett told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray.

Opponents contend the plans are too grand and the price, which could be as high as $18 million, is too much. The building is expected to include a mezzanine spanning five tracks and a system of elevators and escalators. The new train shed will accommodate existing Amtrak lines and future high-speed trains.

County Executive Scott Walker wants to derail the plan.

“They were trying to get it in under the radar by really not telling people about it, and hoping by the time they got done with it, nobody would notice. But, obviously people have,” Walker said during an interview with WJFW-TV.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to start construction in October. Project supervisors took questions at a public information session on Tuesday.

“This structure has reached the end of its useful life,” said John Oimoen, who oversees DOT passenger rail projects. “It’s about 45 years old right now.”

Some at the meeting support the new train shed.

“Inside the shed needs to be lighter, brighter, better ventilation, especially if we’re going to have more trains,” said Liz Wessel, a frequent rail passenger.

Others call it a waste.

“Seems like a travesty, in the final days of the Doyle administration,” said Andrew Kubiaczyk of Milwaukee. “It really does seem like an act of arrogance.”

The DOT dismisses claims that they are trying to start the project before a new governor is elected.

For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd

A curiosity to know about billionaires’ residences stems from that very urge. Here are some interesting facts about 10 most expensive houses in the world. Read on . . .

Interestingly the first place is occupied by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s house.

1. Antilla, Mumbai — $2 billion, say reports

Named Antilla, the house owned by Mukesh and Nita Ambani, is a 27-storey, 40,000-square foot tower.

Known for its custom measurements and fittings, Antilla comes with a six-story car park.

The house has been designed after consultation with architecture firms Perkins and

Will & Hirsch Bedner Associates based in Dallas and Los Angeles.

No floors in their home are alike. Each floor has a different layout, material and design.

Atop the parking lot begins the living space with nine elevators in their lobby. The house also boasts of a silver coloured railing large ballroom with 80 per cent of its ceiling covered with crystal chandeliers.

The 570-foot tall mostly glass, the tower has 600 staff to handle the chores. There is a crystal chandelier in the ballroom ceiling.

It also features retractable showcases for artwork and entertainment stages.

Each floor is double the average height.

The head of Reliance Industries, a oil and petrochemicals giant, Mukesh Ambani holds a net worth of $43 billion.

For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd

HotHotels in the vicinity of the rail-link stations and terminals at Phya Thai, Rajprarob and Makkasan areas will gain a significant competitive advantage, especially in the Rajdamri area as well as those along Phetchaburi, Asoke and Rajdaphisek roads. Hotels located close to the city’s mass transit systems, the BTS Skytrain and the Metro Underground, will also get a lift.

Providing easy access right under the Suvarnabhumi airport terminal, the rail-link is smooth and efficient. The rail-cars are spacious with plenty of place for luggage. Visitors will also enjoy panoramic views of Bangkok, including greenery, housing estates, temples, mosques, malls and the office towers of the inner city.

The State Railways of Thailand, which owns and operates the system, has ensured that it includes complete facilities for the physically-challenged, including proper car parks, spacious wheelchair access, elevators equipped with buttons in Braille buttons and voice announcements. There is also as area allocated especially for the disabled within the passenger car. Toilets, ticket distribution channels and access gates have also been designed accordingly, and in line with international standards.

For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd

John Canetti of West Milford renovating an elevator in a 14-story office building at 100 Hamilton Plaza in Paterson. ‘You have to have a logical mind. Be able to analyze a job. And you can’t be afraid of heights,’ he says.

How long on the job?: 37 years, the last eight of those with Liberty Elevator.

How he got the job: “My dad was in the business. He would always say to me, ‘Johnny, you want to be an elevator man?’ I’d be like ‘Yeah, Dad!’ and he’d say ‘What are you, nuts?’ ”

What he does: “I’m in modernization. I go into a building that’s been up for 30 years, where the elevators have just been beat to hell, and take them apart and replace every single part we can – the door operating mechanisms, the wiring.”

What makes a good elevator repairman?: “You have to have a logical mind. Be able to analyze a job. And you can’t be afraid of heights.”

Training: He is a member of the International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local 1. The union has a four-year apprenticeship program with eight hours of classes a week and final exams that must be passed before apprentices can advance to journeymen.

Salary range: About $40,000 to start, but the average range is $80,000 to $100,000, and experienced repairmen willing to work overtime can make $125,000 or more in the New York/New Jersey area.

What he likes best about the job: “When you do a modernization in an older building, the elevators have been so abused, and the service of the elevator is absolutely horrendous. People wait for the elevator for five, six minutes. By the time we get done upgrading it, the performance of the whole system is tenfold better.”

How dangerous is it?: “Probably the most hazardous part of this business is something coming down the shaft and hitting you. The last job I did we were working in the shaft and they had electricians working upstairs and all of a sudden we hear drilling upstairs. What’s going on? The next thing a piece of concrete comes down the shaft.”

Question he gets asked all the time: “How long can we breathe in there if the elevator gets stuck? People think they’re going to run out of air.”

What he tells them: “You can breathe as long as you need to. The elevator shafts are not sealed. There’s plenty of air circulating at all times.”

Other question he gets asked all the time: “Do you work for Otis? As if that is the only elevator company.”

For lift maintenance, platform lifts, lift installations and lift repair, make sure you speak to a lift company that provide the best lift service – Elevators Ltd