Elevator Maintenance in a Building: Licensed Inspector, Service Contract and Everything a Manager Must Know

An elevator is the only system in a building in which a failure can trap a person inside a closed car within seconds — and at the same time it is the system easiest to "forget" as long as it is running smoothly. In a building where dozens to hundreds of people come and go every morning, this is not just a question of availability: it is a question of law, of safety of life, and of personal liability that falls directly on the building manager. I have managed quite a few elevator setups in recent years, and I have learned that most of the confusion stems from one point: people do not know that elevator maintenance in Israel is made up of two entirely separate tracks — and the moment you understand this, everything becomes much simpler to manage.

If you first want the broad picture of all the building's systems, it is worth starting with the complete guide to preventive maintenance in a building and then returning here for the depth of the elevator.

The legal basis: what obligates the building owner in Israel

In Israel, operating a commercial elevator (in offices, malls, hotels and shared buildings) is subject to the safety requirements set by the Safety at Work Law, 5714-1954 and the regulations under it, as well as to dedicated elevator regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy (formerly the Ministry of Economy and Industry) — the body responsible in Israel for elevator safety supervision. In addition, Israeli Standard SI 1093 defines maintenance and safety requirements for electric elevators. Whoever operates an elevator without a valid operating permit is exposed to civil liability and, at the authorities' discretion, also to administrative sanctions — regardless of whether an accident occurred or not.

The important thing to remember: the statutory liability falls on the property owner and the building manager, not on the service company. The service company is responsible for the quality of its maintenance — but not for the fact that you have a valid inspection report. That is the difference it is important to understand before signing any contract.

Two separate tracks: the licensed inspector versus the technician

This is the most important point in the article, and that is why it comes first. Elevator maintenance in Israel rests on two parties that must not be confused:

Track A: inspection by a licensed elevator inspector

The licensed inspector is a party independent and unconnected to the service company. His role is to perform a periodic inspection of the elevator and issue an inspection report — a document that determines whether the elevator is fit for operation. On the basis of the inspection report an operating permit is granted (or not). The inspector does not fix anything: he inspects, documents and determines. Found a substantive defect? He can condition the permit on a repair, and in severe cases the elevator will not be permitted to operate until the defect is closed and approved.

From my experience: these inspections usually last several hours, and are carried out while operating the elevator in all inspection modes. The inspector examines the safety systems — overspeed governor, door contacts, overload, emergency functions — and does not just "look at" the elevator. The report that comes out of the inspection is a detailed document, not a line on a form.

Track B: ongoing maintenance by a technician on behalf of a service company

In parallel, throughout the year, a service company maintains the elevator via a technician on its behalf. This is the routine work: cyclical service visits, lubrication, adjustments, checking safety systems, replacing wearing parts, and handling faults. The technician knows the elevator day to day — and he is also the one who repairs the defects the licensed inspector points to in the inspection report.

The logic is clear: the service company maintains, the licensed inspector approves. If the same party both maintained and approved itself, the approval would be worthless. This separation is the heart of safety, which is why the inspector must remain entirely independent.

If you do not have a valid inspection report in hand, the elevator is not "almost fine" — in liability terms it is operating without a permit. Check the validity date before anything else.

A quick comparison: who does what

Note the last row: you order both parties. A common mistake is to assume that the service company "already takes care of the inspector." I have seen cases where each assumed the other was ordering it — and the inspection report expired without anyone noticing. The liability stays on you, not on the supplier.

What a good service contract must include

An elevator service contract is not a standard form you sign and forget. The difference between a good contract and a bad one is revealed at exactly the worst moment — when someone is trapped in the car. Here is what I demand appears explicitly, in writing, before I sign:

Response time for rescuing a trapped passenger

This is the most important clause, and it is often worded vaguely. Demand a defined and measurable response time for a technician to arrive to rescue a trapped person — separate from and faster than the response time for a regular fault. A trapped passenger is an emergency call, not a "fault" waiting in line. It is important to ensure the time is measured from the moment of the call until physical arrival at the site — not until "opening a call" in the system.

In practice, I have seen contracts in which a "two-hour response time" did not apply to rescue, and other contracts that define an entirely different framework for afternoon, Friday and Saturday hours. Demand that the clause explicitly cover evenings, holidays and weekends too.

Emergency intercom to a manned centre

The emergency button in the car must connect the passenger to a centre manned by human beings, around the clock — not to a voice mailbox and not to a recorded message. Check this yourself before the contract is signed, and again every few months: enter the car, press the emergency button, and see who answers and how quickly. If a machine answers, you do not have an emergency system — you have an illusion of an emergency system.

Parts coverage — what exactly is included

Clarify what is included: does the contract cover parts, or only labour? Which parts are excluded? A "full" contract that excludes all the substantive components is not a full contract. Explicitly define the treatment of the control components, the doors and the drive system — these are the components whose failure stops the elevator for days, not hours. A contract that excludes the "control boards" from coverage is a contract with a big hole in it.

Documentation, reporting and tracking

Demand a written report on every service visit, a list of open faults, and tracking of defects that came up in the inspection report. Without documentation you are relying on the memory of a technician who gets replaced. If you manage the systems through a central system, it is worth connecting the elevator to the central fault tracking so that you are not dependent on phone calls.

Termination and portability terms

Check what happens if you want to switch suppliers. Certain service companies store the "brain" of the control board via a proprietary supplier, and switching suppliers requires replacing the board. Check this in advance — before you are locked into a contract yourself.

Managing the inspection report and validity dates: how to do it right

The most practical advice I can give on this subject: the inspection report and its validity date should be managed as an active task with a built-in reminder — exactly like renewing insurance or checking a fire-suppression system. Relying on memory does not work.

My working method:

• Upon receiving a new inspection report — three items are immediately filed: the issue date, the validity date, and the name of the licensed inspector.
• An automatic reminder 60 days before the validity expires — not on the day it expires. Licensed inspectors are busy, and sometimes you have to wait weeks for an appointment.
• At the annual review meeting with the service company — I request coordinating the inspector's appointment as part of the meeting summary.
• If the building is managed through a system like Domera — the task is kept there with a due date, not on a sticky note that disappears.

The most important point: even if the service company offers to coordinate the inspector on your behalf — do not rely on that alone. Request written confirmation with a coordinated date, and check that the confirmation arrived.

Manual rescue procedure and staff training

Even with the best contract, a moment will come when someone is trapped and the technician is still on the way. This is where the rescue procedure comes in — and here it is important to be very careful. Manually rescuing a passenger from an elevator is not an action anyone can perform. An incorrect rescue is more dangerous than waiting: a car that moves while the doors are open can cause a serious injury. I have seen cases where an untrained maintenance person's "first-response rescue" created a greater risk than the fault itself.

What is your responsibility to ensure:

• Access to the machine room and the keys. Whoever is authorised to rescue must reach the keys and the equipment immediately — not search for them in real time.
• A clear definition of who is authorised to rescue. Only someone explicitly trained for it by the service company. Do not improvise and do not let an untrained maintenance person "try."
• A written and accessible procedure next to the elevator and in the hands of the person responsible on shift: reassure the passenger through the intercom, verify he is not in immediate danger, and activate the emergency call to the service company.
• Periodic drilling. A procedure that has not been drilled does not exist. Make sure the staff actually knows what to do — not just on paper.

The moment when it becomes clear whether the staff is ready is the moment a passenger presses the emergency button. Plan for that moment in advance.

What actually goes wrong — the patterns that recur

After enough years dealing with elevators, I recognise the same recurring faults. These are the patterns I look for first:

An expired inspection report that no one noticed

The most common and most dangerous problem in terms of liability. No one received a reminder, the service company assumed you were ordering the inspector and you assumed it was coordinating — and the elevator keeps running without a valid permit. The solution: preventive maintenance versus breakdown maintenance — whoever waits for the elevator to stop in order to act has already lost. Manage the inspection-report validity as a task with a reminder, no compromises.

Inspection-report defects that are not closed out

The inspector found a defect, recorded it in the inspection report — and nothing happened. Every defect that came up in the inspection must become a repair task with the service company, with a due date and closure tracking. If you do not close out the defects, the next inspection report will find them again — and in some cases some of them will only worsen. A subsequent inspection with old open defects is an unpleasant conversation with the inspector.

An intercom connected "somewhere" — but not really

I have checked elevators where the emergency button connected the passenger to a disconnected number, or to the voice mailbox of a company that no longer services that building. No one checked it after the supplier was replaced. Check the emergency chain physically, on a regular basis — at least once a quarter. It takes two minutes and flushes out parties that are not working.

A new supplier that did not receive a full handover

When switching service companies, the elevator's technical history often stays with the old supplier. Service visits, old defects, replaced parts — everything disappears. Demand a full technical file from the outgoing supplier before the old contract ends.

Confusion between maintenance and end of life

Good maintenance does not turn an old elevator into a new one. If the elevator requires frequent service visits, spare parts become rare and expensive, and reliability drops — you are no longer in the world of maintenance. You are in a question of replacement or upgrade. I have consolidated it in a separate article on the transition from maintenance to the decision whether to refurbish or replace an elevator. Do not throw more and more service at an elevator that has already finished its life.

Checklist for the owner and the building manager

This is what I go over, and in this order:

• A valid inspection report in hand — issue date, validity date, name of the licensed inspector. Managed as a task with a reminder 60 days in advance.
• An operating permit valid and matching the latest inspection report — not an old permit from a previous report.
• A signed service contract with: a defined response time for rescue (including evenings/Saturday/holidays), an intercom to a manned centre, and clear, detailed parts coverage.
• Service visit reports filed, with an up-to-date list of open faults.
• All inspection-report defects mapped to repair tasks with a deadline and closure tracking.
• An intercom check — you entered yourself, pressed, and a live human being answered you in the last quarter.
• A written rescue procedure: authorised and trained people defined by name, accessible keys, periodic drilling that is actually done.
• An end-of-life consideration — is the elevator still within the scope of maintenance, or have we already moved on to the question of replacement?

A properly managed elevator is one that even its owner would feel comfortable riding without thinking twice. If you keep to the two tracks — an independent licensed inspector and a reliable service technician — and manage the dates and defects like any other system in the maintenance plan, most of the risk simply disappears.