Why America is stuck with an elevator crisis
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Fixing America's elevators is becoming a heavy lift.
Why it matters: The U.S. has about 1 million elevators, with Americans traveling about 2.55 billion miles a year altogether on elevators and escalators, according to trade association National Elevator Industry.
The big picture: 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.
What they're saying: "Everyone is born needing an elevator, and if they're lucky they die needing one too," says Stephen Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America, who has studied America's elevator issues.
Threat level: When elevators are out of order, people who are unable to take the stairs or have difficulty doing so are thrust into a crisis.
- The upper levels of tall buildings are effectively rendered useless until repairs can be made.
- Nearly 1.1 million Americans end up in the emergency room every year due to incidents stemming from taking the stairs, according to a study published in 2017 based on data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.
- The number of injuries from elevator trips is miniscule, Smith says: "The real safety problem with elevators is we don't have enough of them."
Reports of inconveniences are widespread:
- In San Jose, California, residents of a supportive housing complex were stranded for more than a week when their second elevator went down, according to the San Jose Spotlight.
- In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, both elevators at an affordable housing complex were out of service for more than a month, stranding elderly residents, according to 7 News Miami.
- In Detroit, which "is full of old elevators," there are "fewer people who know how to fix them" — and that's contributed to construction delays, according to Crain's Detroit Business.
Zoom in: 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 Smith.
- And parts are often no longer available for aging — and often obsolete — elevators, meaning they often have to be custom made.
- "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.
State of play: 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.
Yes, but: 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, tells commercial real estate publication Propmodo.
The bottom line: When elevators get stuck in repair mode, the public suffers.
Contributing: Alex Fitzpatrick
