Elevator Maintenance — What the Law Requires, What Is Actually Inspected, and Why Neglect Here Is the Most Dangerous of All

Of all the systems I manage in a building, the elevator is the one I sleep least easily about. Not because it breaks down the most — but because when it does break down, the mistake is not measured in inconvenience or money, but in human lives. A stuck electrical system darkens a room; a faulty air conditioner overheats an office; a faulty elevator can trap a person between floors or, in the extreme case, fall. That is why Israeli law treats elevators with exceptional severity, and why a building owner who neglects them is not merely "poorly maintained" — he is committing an offense and bearing personal liability.

Why an Elevator Is a Special Case

Most building systems forgive temporary neglect. You can put off cleaning an air-conditioning filter for a week, forget a fire-extinguisher check for a month, and the world will not collapse. An elevator does not work that way. It is a mechanical-electrical system that carries people dozens of times a day, on steel cables, over an empty shaft. Every component in it — the cables, the brakes, the speed governor, the door locks — is a safety component in which a failure is not a "malfunction" but a hazard.

There is another practical aspect I have learned in the field: the elevator is the system in which neglect is most visible. A resident or tenant does not see the electrical panel and does not know when the generator was last tested — but he immediately sees an elevator that shudders, that stops unevenly at the floor, whose doors slam shut, or that simply has an "elevator out of service" sign hanging on it. A neglected elevator is a public statement about the quality of management of the entire building. When I walk into an unfamiliar building, the elevator is the first thing I examine — it tells me within ten seconds whether there is real management here.

The Legal Framework — the Occupational Safety (Elevators) Regulations

Elevator maintenance in Israel is not a matter of recommendation or "good practice." It is anchored in the Occupational Safety (Elevators) Regulations, under which the Authority for Safety and Health at Work (the Safety Administration) has issued detailed guidelines. The framework sets two mandatory layers of maintenance, separate from each other, which must not be confused:

• Routine maintenance: a maintenance contract with a licensed elevator company, including a fixed monthly maintenance visit.
• Independent safety inspection: a periodic inspection by a licensed elevator inspector — an external party independent of the maintenance company.

This separation is not accidental. The maintenance company is an interested party — it performs the maintenance and therefore has an interest in everything appearing fine. The licensed inspector is an external eye whose role is to confirm independently that the elevator is safe to operate. Only the combination of the two provides full protection — and both, separately, are mandatory.

It is important to know: the Israeli elevator standards are based to a large extent on Israeli Standard SI 1560 and on adopted European EN standards, but the most critical requirement for the building owner is not to remember the standard number — it is to make sure there is a valid maintenance contract and a licensed inspector's inspection that has not lapsed.

First Layer — the Monthly Maintenance Contract

The basic obligation of every elevator owner is to hold a valid maintenance contract with a licensed elevator company, including a monthly maintenance visit. This is not an "add-on" — without a valid maintenance contract, the elevator is not supposed to operate. The technician who arrives each month performs a series of actions intended to prevent wear before it becomes a failure:

• Lubrication and adjustment: lubricating rails, pulleys and moving parts, and tuning the control systems.
• Testing safety systems: checking the integrity of the brakes, the speed governor and the stopping mechanisms.
• Door check: the integrity of the door locks, the safety sensors that prevent closing on a person, and precise stopping level with the floor.
• Emergency intercom check: confirming that the emergency telephone/intercom in the car is connected and working with a staffed call center.
• Detecting wear: identifying cables, contacts or components that are beginning to wear, and recommending replacement before failure.

Every monthly visit must be recorded in the elevator logbook. This logbook is not a formality — it is the evidence that the elevator is in fact being maintained, and the first document that will be examined if something happens. From experience, I ask to see the elevator logbook at every interim visit — not to check up on the technician, but to make sure he actually showed up and recorded it. A maintenance company that ticks a box without actually performing the work is the greatest danger, because it creates the illusion of maintenance.

A point worth emphasizing: signing a maintenance contract does not replace oversight. The address of responsibility still remains with the building owner. See more on the legal liability surrounding the elevator in elevator licensing and building owner liability.

Second Layer — the Licensed Elevator Inspector's Inspection

Beyond the monthly maintenance, the law requires a periodic inspection by a licensed elevator inspector. The inspector holds a dedicated certification granted under the supervision of the Authority for Safety and Health at Work, and is independent of the maintenance company. Without a valid licensed inspector's inspection — the elevator is not legal to operate, full stop.

The inspector does not deal with routine lubrication and adjustment; he examines the safety integrity of the entire installation and produces an inspection report. If he identifies a defect, he notes it, and in serious cases he is entitled to disqualify the elevator from operation until it is fixed. His report is a binding document — not a suggestion left to discretion.

A defect noted in an inspector's report and not addressed is the first thing that will come up in any inquiry after an incident. I have seen situations in which a maintenance company received a report with findings, "sent it to the archive," and for months did not address the defects. This establishes liability almost automatically. My role as manager is to track that every finding in the report is actually closed — not just that the report was received.

What Is Actually Inspected — the Critical Safety Components

It is worth understanding what lies behind the terms, because each component here is a separate line of defense. The system is built so that a failure in one is caught by another — but this only works if all of them are sound.

Cables (Hoisting Ropes)

The steel cables that carry the car. They are inspected for wear, broken wires, corrosion and tension. A worn cable does not snap all at once — it loses wires gradually, and this is exactly what a periodic inspection is meant to catch in time. Elevators are always installed with several cables in parallel as a built-in safety factor.

Brakes

The braking system that stops and holds the car. A sound brake holds the elevator in place even in the absence of electricity. The brake inspection verifies that they grip with the required force and release properly — a brake failure is one of the most serious safety failures, and therefore a dynamic test is performed on it in addition to the visual check.

Speed Governor and Safety Brake

This is the last protective mechanism against a fall. If the car begins to descend at an abnormal speed, the speed governor detects it and activates the safety brake, which physically grips the car on the rails and stops it. This is one of the most important components the licensed inspector examines, because it only comes into action in an extreme scenario — and therefore you must make sure it will work when needed, even if it has not been triggered for years.

Doors and Their Locking

Most serious elevator accidents are related to the doors — a fall into the shaft through a door that opened when the car was not there, or a person trapped in a closing door. The door locking ensures that the elevator will not move while a door is open, and that a landing door will not open if there is no car there. The safety sensors prevent closing on a person or object. The door inspection takes time — a technician who finishes it within a minute did not inspect it properly.

Emergency and Intercom System

A telephone/intercom in the car, connected to a staffed call center available at all hours. A trapped passenger must be able to make contact and receive an immediate response. An emergency lighting system in the car and a mechanism to lower the car to a floor in the event of a power outage complete the emergency envelope.

A point I personally check on every visit: I dial from the intercom device in the car and confirm that a real person answers, not just that the device "works." A disconnected call center is one of the common findings that are only discovered when you actually test.

Trapped in the Elevator — Why the Procedure Matters as Much as the Mechanics

People get trapped in elevators — even in a well-maintained elevator, mainly during power outages or a localized fault. The real danger in being trapped is not the elevator itself — it is the panic and the attempt to escape alone. A person who tries to force the door open and climb out through a partial opening endangers himself far more than if he had waited inside a safe car.

Therefore rescuing passengers is always the action of a qualified party — an elevator technician or rescue forces — and not of "someone who understands." My role as building manager is to make sure three things always exist:

• An emergency intercom that works and is connected to a staffed call center at all hours.
• A clear procedure with an available contact for rapid rescue — the name and phone number of the maintenance company and of the emergency forces.
• Signage in the car that explains to the passenger what to do: stay calm, press the emergency button, and wait. Do not try to open the door.

An elevator with a disconnected intercom is not an "inconvenience" — it is a trap.

Out-of-Service Elevator — the Legal Status of a Lapsed Inspection

Here lies the point that many building owners miss, and which is perhaps the most important in the entire article: an elevator whose licensed inspector's inspection has lapsed, or whose maintenance contract is not valid, is an illegal elevator. It is not "an elevator that should be inspected soon" — it is an elevator that must not be operated.

The meaning is practical and sharp: the moment an inspection lapses, the elevator must be taken out of service, closed off clearly and safely, and an inspection and/or immediate repair coordinated. To keep operating an elevator with a lapsed inspection "because everything looks fine" is a gamble with the worst risk I know. If something happens — even a minor incident — the fact that the elevator operated without a valid inspection will render any legal or insurance defense worthless. The insurance company is entitled to reject a claim outright, and the liability — civil and even criminal — falls on the building owner and his manager.

Taking an elevator out of service like this is not a management failure — it is exactly the opposite. A manager who takes an elevator with a lapsed inspection out of service is a manager doing his job. The failure is to leave it operating.

Managing the Schedule — the Difference Between a Manager Who Manages and One Who Hopes

If you distill this entire article into one rule, it would be: to know, at every moment, when the next inspection lapses — and to renew it before, not after. Most compliance failures with elevators do not stem from deliberate negligence, but from a forgotten date. The periodic inspection passed, no one scheduled the next one, and a month after it lapsed the elevator is still operating — not because someone decided, but because no one noticed.

In a building with several elevators, facing one maintenance company and a separate licensed inspector, manual tracking is a recipe for a miss. The way I work:

• Documenting all inspection dates in a central logbook, including the expiration date and a reminder at least a month in advance.
• Requesting the licensed inspector's report in writing — and tracking until every finding is closed.
• Written confirmation from the maintenance company that every monthly visit was actually performed (not just a date in the contract).
• A short independent check — including dialing the intercom — once a month, during the building's inspection round.

A management party that does this turns elevator maintenance from something you hope is happening into something you know is happening. See more on managing a documented schedule in the annual preventive maintenance checklist and in Standard 1525 for building maintenance.

The Elevator as Part of the Building's Safety Fabric

The elevator is not an island. In an emergency it is part of a chain: the fire detection system is supposed to return the elevators to the entrance floor and prevent their use during a fire, because an elevator shaft is a smoke chimney and a spread path. The emergency lighting, the generator and the mechanism to lower the car to a floor during a power outage — all are tied to the safe functioning of the elevator.

Quality maintenance examines not only the elevator on its own but also its integration into the building systems. This link to fire safety connects directly to the broader requirements we described in the fire safety law and directive.

At Domera we schedule the licensed inspector's inspections in advance, supervise the elevator company and ensure that no "lapsed elevators" are created — as part of comprehensive property management. Get a proposal for managing the maintenance of the systems in your property.