The Ontario government is delaying the release of the elevator safety report commissioned by the TSSA last spring to review the issue of elevator safety and reliability. The report was delivered in November and is being delayed while the Ontario government prepares a response.
According to Barbara Hanson, Ministry of Government Consumer Services, the Ontario government is “currently reviewing the report and considering next steps to improve elevator availability in Ontario. We look forward to making the report publicly available in the coming weeks, along with an action plan to address its recommendations.”
It all began last April when Ontario Liberal MPP Han Dong proposed the Reliable Elevators Act. As a result, the government ordered the Technical Standards and Safety Authority to commission a study amid concern about growing issues with out-of-service elevators.
In response, the TSSA contracted with Deloitte to do the study and gave them an October deadline. Just as the elevator safety report was being finalized, the elevator industry released their own report entitled Reliable Elevators – How Ontario Can Become a National Leader for Transportation Systems in Buildings. Their report included a suite of recommendations to increase reliability and availability, without compromising safety to mechanics and the public. Deloitte went back and revised the report to reflect those concerns and the TSSA had a final version ready in early November. At the time, it said it was awaiting government permission to release it publicly.
“We have asked the TSSA to translate the report into French and convert it to an accessible format before making it public,” Hanson said in early December.
Recently, however, the TSSA confirmed the holdup was at the direction of the government, which faces a general election in six months.
MPP Han Dong has not yet seen the final report but he says he is hopeful that the government was preparing a far-reaching “industry-norm changing” plan to deal with elevator maintenance and availability.
Steve Robinson, a spokesman for the TSSA, said he was unable to provide any details on the report or the holdup of its release.
“It is indeed a TSSA report — we commissioned it and paid for it,” Robinson said. “But we were asked to provide the report to the ministry for their consideration before making it public.”
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