City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other Councilmembers are proposing legislation that would require elevator repair technicians to be licensed by the city. The technicians would also be required to submit to a mechanics examination administered by a nationally-or state-approved program. Jeez, what's next, making exterminators get licensed too?! Oh, wait. Looks like the American dream that anybody can grow up to one day be responsible for the safety of thousands of people without any government oversight is dead.
The legislation was created in response to the horrific elevator death of Suzanne Hart, who died in December of last year after an elevator suddenly lurched violently upward as she stepped inside in the lobby of her Madison Avenue ad agency. Prosecutors allege that workers for the elevator maintenance company Transel are responsible for the malfunction, and the city has suspended its license and will move to have it revoked entirely. But there's still no stopping any schmuck with a tool kit from getting hired to repair the little steel boxes New Yorkers rely on every day.
"If plumbers and electricians are required to be licensed to work in New York, it stands to reason that elevator workers should be licensed as well,” Council Member James Vacca of the Bronx said in a statement. “The elevator represents a major threat to life and limb should it fail. In this city of high rises, we must ensure that only experienced, qualified professionals are repairing these essential features of urban life. That licensing has not happened to date is a major omission that we must rectify.”
On April 16, the Council will hear testimony on the legislation, as well as testimony on proposed legislation sponsored by Council Member Erik Martin Dilan to increase safety standards in elevators by requiring elevators in residential and mixed buildings to be equipped with safety mechanisms. These safeguards would prevent elevator cars from striking the top of their hoistways in case of sudden acceleration. But those safety improvements would not apply to commercial buildings like the one where Hart was killed.
