America Is Stuck With an Elevator Crisis (axios.com)
- Reference: 0175842929
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/07/023245/america-is-stuck-with-an-elevator-crisis
- Source link: https://www.axios.com/2025/01/05/elevators-escalators-regulations-buildings-construction
> America's aging elevators are time-consuming and costly to fix. The workforce of technicians who know how to fix them is aging. And buildings with elevators in need of repair often need to wait ages for replacement parts due to arcane supply-chain issues. [...] Elevator parts shortages appear to stem largely from two issues: Parts suppliers often prioritize their biggest customers, which in this case happens to be builders in China, where the vast majority of the world's new elevators are installed, according to [Stephen Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America]. And parts are often no longer available for aging -- and often obsolete -- elevators, meaning they often have to be custom made.
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> "In some cases, the entire elevator system may need to be modernized or replaced, leading to substantial costs and potential disruptions to building operations," an advisory called The Elevator Consultants reports. A patchwork of state regulations and union rules make it laborious for building owners and contractors to comply with current standards, according to Smith. who said the U.S. would benefit from federal elevator standards. "The feds have not involved themselves in regulations of the construction industry since Reagan took an axe to it in the 1980s," Smith said. The good news is that "about 80 percent of reliability issues can be solved by replacing the doors," Joseph Bera, at VP at Schindler Elevators, [3]tells commercial real estate publication Propmodo.
[1] https://www.axios.com/2025/01/05/elevators-escalators-regulations-buildings-construction
[2] https://nationalelevatorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NEII-Fact-Sheet-2020.pdf
[3] https://propmodo.com/dwindling-supply-of-parts-make-older-elevators-a-nuisance-and-pr-risk/
Good (Score:2)
If Americans actually used stares their health might improve!
Re: (Score:2)
stairs even... stupid brain / auto correct
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. Disable the elevators.
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder how many skeletons are in old elevators stuck at the bottom of a lift well.
Re: (Score:2)
> If Americans actually used stares their health might improve!
Yes. Of course elevators don’t exist in all those other healthy countries.
Neither do wheelchairs, knee replacements, old age, paraplegics..
Sigh. (Score:3)
Who'd have thunk that a large static, expensive, integrated thing with moving parts might require repairs, maintenance, spare parts, etc.
And who'd have thunk that it might be a good idea to secure those specifications to those parts so you can get them made anywhere if you needed to.
Oh, no, whatever will we do? Buy a new one, every 20 years? Or suffer the consequences?
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know what its like in the US but here in Australia companies like Schindler and Kone and Otis regularly modernize old elevators, often without needing to replace the entire elevator.
As someone who has seen old elevators, it just doesn't make sense to try and fix something that's 40-50 or more years old running on relay logic. Newer elevators are almost certainly going to be more energy efficient, probably deliver a better quality ride for the users and be easier for people with various disabilities
Au (Score:1)
Just ask AI what to do about this and if it is the real thing it will solve the problem
jobs for folk (Score:2)
Could be a good time to train as an elevator technician, seems like there's going to be a demand for this type of work.