UTM has been experiencing elevator disruptions in several buildings over the past few weeks, including CCT and Davis.
Elevator four in the Davis building has been out of service since October 6, with no date scheduled as to when it will be running again. The CCT elevators have experienced several breakages over the past few weeks.
In an email to The Medium, the executive director of Facilities Management & Planning, Paul Goldsmith, stated that the CCT elevators have had 15 notifications since February 2016.
“In the last six months, four incidents were listed against elevator one and two incidents were listed against elevator two,” Goldsmith said.
In a follow-up interview with The Medium, he added that the CCT elevators are the most heavily-used elevators in UTM, contributing to the frequent notifications.
Goldsmith said that UTM has a maintenance contract with OTIS Elevator Company, which carries out inspection and maintenance quarterly and annually.
He explained that in the case of a mechanical issue with the elevators, the FM&P would immediately call OTIS, and within four hours of the phone call, a technician from OTIS would arrive to assess the situation, report the problem, and determine how long it will take to fix.
When asked why the CCT elevators have yet to be repaired, Goldsmith said that it is “on the part of OTIS”.
“All operations and maintenance for elevating devices are governed by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, which administers and enforces technical standards in Ontario,” Goldsmith said.
He clarified that in previous years, the campus staff were able to reset the elevators themselves without having to call a technician, but now the delayed time is caused by all the safety precautions that the technician takes before allowing an elevator to run actively.
According to Goldsmith, the issues pertaining to the CCT elevators are due to problems with the circuit board and the controllers, which have been replaced by newer pieces.
Goldsmith added that if continuous repairs are needed on the same piece of equipment, a complete replacement of the whole unit will be authorized.
Students are able to get information as to what elevators are out of service on the Building Access Notice Board, which is on the FM&P’s website.
This article has been corrected.
- October 25, 2016 at 4 p.m.: The online version originally contained the text of a different article, and the photo was miscredited to Olivia Adamczyk.
