Expired elevator permits

Dozens of USD elevators have expired permits due to lack of state inspectors

Mikaela Foehr / Asst. News Editor / The USD Vista

Forty-one of the 50 elevators registered on campus were surveyed by members of The USD Vista staff, and 27 of those surveyed have expired permits posted. This raises questions about the safety of these conveyances, which are used daily by campus community members, especially those who have mobility challenges. 

Patrick Bonner, a senior student who uses an electric wheelchair to get around campus, has had multiple experiences with broken elevators.

“Once I was in engineering lab and the elevator was broken after class,” Bonner said. “It was taking so long to fix that my friend had to go get my manual wheelchair from my room and carry me down the stairs, which was not fun. I have to trust these elevators, but sometimes I am not sure if I should.”

According to the state of California’s Department of Industrial Relations, “no elevator shall be operated without a valid, current permit issued by the Division.” It also states that “the permit, or a copy thereof, to operate a passenger elevator, freight elevator or incline elevator shall be posted conspicuously and securely in the elevator car.” Elevator permits, in general, expire after one year and it is the responsibility of the operating party to schedule a follow-up inspection to obtain another permit. Most of the expired permits posted in USD’s elevators expired in 2018, meaning that they had been last inspected by a state representative in 2017. 

Sophomore Mira Kubba thinks that this backup is concerning, especially for those who depend on the elevators.

“I have friends who need to use elevators to get to class, and it is scary to me that the elevators they are using might have something wrong with them that hasn’t been evaluated in years,” Kubba said. 

While outwardly alarming, expired permits do not necessarily mean the elevators are unsafe. Robert Brauer, USD’s Director of Building and Ground Operations, points out that state inspections are only one piece of elevator safety.

“There are inspectors who inspect the elevators and repair people who maintain them. Our elevators on campus are maintained by a private elevator repair company every month,” Brauer said. “We can’t control the inspections, we can only control the maintenance and the maintenance is very good on these elevators.”

Sophomore David Wiley is comfortable with the university’s monthly servicing plan, but wishes there was a better way to tell when the elevators have been serviced last. 

“I have noticed the out-of-date permits before, and that has made me pretty nervous when the elevator is moving slow and it looks like it hasn’t been checked in two years,” Wiley said. “If they can’t get the yearly permits on time, it would be nice if we were at least able to know when each elevator was last checked.”

While Brauer is confident in the ability of the company that USD uses for monthly elevator inspections, not all students agree. Alexis Desany, a sophomore, remembers an instance where an elevator inspection set off a fire alarm in Shiley Center of Science and Technology. 

“One time the Shiley elevators, which are already very slow, were being serviced and I don’t know exactly what they did, but it set off the whole building’s fire alarm and it took forever to fix,” Desany said.

Over Brauer’s 15 years at the University of San Diego, he has experienced the difficult process of trying to get yearly inspections, but has also seen the state attempt to make the process more efficient. 

“This problem has been going on for years,” Brauer said. “And it was made worse by the fact that only two or three elevators would be up for inspection at a time, but over the last three to five years we have been trying to group our elevators together, so we can have them all inspected at once.”

USD is not alone in falling behind on elevator inspections. A recent investigative report by ABC 10News San Diego, found that across San Diego County, about half of the registered elevators were being operated with expired permits. Their sources also indicated that the county was short on state certified elevator inspectors, making it difficult to obtain an appointment within the expired permit grace period.

The most recent batch of USD state elevator inspections occurred in August of this year. The inspection brought 33 elevators up to date, excluding those that the inspector was unable to reach, such as the three in Copley Library. Even though the inspections were completed in August, the university is still waiting to receive most of the updated permits to post.