Audit Report On The Department Of Buildings Elevator Inspections And Follow-Up Activities

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is responsible for promoting the safe and lawful use of more than 975,000 buildings and properties throughout the five boroughs and enforcing related provisions of the City’s Administrative Code, local laws, and Rules of the City of New York (City Rules) governing the construction, alteration, maintenance, use, occupancy, safety, mechanical equipment, and inspection of buildings or structures in the City.

The DOB Elevator Division’s mission is to ensure the operational safety, reliable service, and lawful use of elevators, escalators, amusement rides, and related devices throughout the City. It facilitates compliance and fosters safety awareness through outreach programs. This audit focused on the Elevator Division’s inspections and related follow-up activities on approximately 59,000 active and available-for-use passenger and freight elevators in approximately 20,000 buildings citywide under DOB jurisdiction.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

DOB’s enforcement and follow-up activities are not adequate to ensure the performance of mandated elevator safety inspections and tests and the correction of cited deficiencies. DOB did not ensure that all required periodic inspections were performed for the sampled elevators. We found that periodic inspections were lacking; nearly one-fifth of all sampled elevators were not inspected in 2009. We also found that DOB has a persistent backlog of elevators requiring a periodic inspection and did not adequately follow up on inspection attempts in which inspectors could not gain access to the property.

DOB’s enforcement and follow-up activities did not provide sufficient assurance that property owners carried out required Category 1 and Category 5 tests or corrected deficient conditions cited in a periodic inspection or Category 1 test. DOB’s procedures do not adequately address violations that were issued during periodic inspections (PVT violations). Further, its procedures to ensure the correction of deficient conditions do not clearly establish the time frame within which property owners must submit proof of the corrections to DOB. We also found that DOB needs to improve the timeliness of its reinspection of elevators issued cease-use orders.

We found that DOB’s response to complaints was generally satisfactory and that it met its response goals.

Audit Recommendations

The audit made nine recommendations, including that DOB should:

• Review and strengthen its procedures to ensure that periodic inspections of elevators are carried out promptly each year.

• Establish benchmarks to identify inspection backlogs as they occur and design procedures to address them promptly to prevent the backlog from growing too large.

• Develop reports, procedures, and processes to flag and identify elevators that receive two non-access inspection attempts by contract inspectors, and dispatch a DOB inspector to follow up in accordance with procedure. If a property remains inaccessible, DOB should design and apply stronger enforcement actions to encourage the property owner’s compliance.

• Implement and consistently enforce appropriate procedures and follow-up activities to encourage building owners to comply with Category 1 and Category 5 test requirements. These procedures should explicitly establish the actions to be taken when property owners fail to take prompt and appropriate action to correct defects cited in an unsatisfactory Category 1 test.

• Establish procedures to improve its follow-up of open PVT violations.

• Ensure that all inspections required to lift a cease-use order are expedited and carried out promptly.

DOB generally agreed with seven of the audit’s nine recommendations and did not address the remaining two.