The 22nd plenary session of the 14th Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress held on November 26 passed the “Sichuan Province Elevator Safety Regulations” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”). The Regulations strengthen the entire process and chain management of elevator safety, addressing public concerns such as elevator entrapment, delayed emergency response, and false maintenance in daily life, which has attracted widespread attention.
In 2015, Sichuan formulated the “Sichuan Province Elevator Safety Supervision and Management Measures” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), which played an important role in strengthening elevator safety supervision and management, preventing and reducing elevator accidents. With economic and social development, the number of elevators in Sichuan has increased to over 566,000, with the number of old elevators and elevators installed in existing residential buildings increasing year by year. Elevator safety work faces many new situations and challenges, and the Measures can no longer meet the current needs of elevator safety work, making it urgent to upgrade the Measures from government regulations to local regulations.
What are the highlights of the Regulations? Let’s take a look.
The Regulations consist of 9 chapters and 58 articles, divided into general provisions, production and operation, use and management, maintenance, inspection and testing, emergency rescue, supervision and management, legal responsibilities, and supplementary provisions.
The Regulations incorporate the effective and practical provisions from the original Measures regarding standardizing various aspects of elevator operations during implementation, while consolidating and deepening the achievements of the three-year campaign to address the root causes of elevator safety. New chapters on emergency rescue and supervision and management have been added, along with new content on smart supervision, comprehensive elevator safety insurance, and the installation of accessible facilities, elevating mature experiences and effective measures to the regulatory level.
The Regulations focus on clarifying responsibilities and strengthening the entire process and chain management. Given the wide range of entities, numerous links, and long chains involved in elevator safety, as well as issues such as inconsistencies between construction units and management units, management units and maintenance units, and managers and owners, the Regulations further clarify the responsibilities of all parties involved in the manufacturing, installation, renovation, repair, operation, use, management, maintenance, inspection, and testing of elevators, emphasizing the connection of responsibilities between elevator management units and related parties.
The governance of elevator safety hazards and the improvement of intrinsic safety have attracted significant social attention. To address the frequent occurrence of elevator failures, the Regulations specify the supervision and management responsibilities of relevant departments, increase the intensity of spot checks and inspections, and impose penalties for relevant violations in accordance with legal liability provisions. At the same time, the Regulations encourage the replacement of residential elevators that have been in use for a long time and have high failure rates, establish elevator safety guarantee funds and require the disclosure of income and expenditure, promote the comprehensive elevator safety insurance system, and widely apply elevator codes to facilitate passenger information queries, fault reporting, and emergency assistance.
Focusing on standardizing and improving the effectiveness of emergency rescue. In response to the current issues of frequent elevator entrapment incidents and delayed emergency rescue, a dedicated chapter on emergency rescue has been established, incorporating it into the emergency rescue system and creating a inter-departmental coordination mechanism; establishing and improving the elevator safety emergency response service platform, setting up the dedicated helpline 96933 to handle elevator entrapment emergency rescues.
Focusing on learning from accident lessons to address regulatory gaps. In response to various elevator safety issues that have emerged across the country in recent years, proactive responses have been made in local legislation, standardizing requirements for elevator decommissioning, commissioning, and deregistration. It is specified that demolition must be carried out by units with corresponding professional capabilities, construction units must develop demolition construction organization plans, construction units must develop demolition plans, on-site safety protection measures must be implemented, and relevant departments must perform their supervisory duties in accordance with the law.
It is worth noting that the Regulations also stipulate that elevator users should use elevators safely and civilly, comply with elevator safety instructions, safety precautions, and warning signs, and must not engage in behaviors that endanger personal safety or elevator safety, such as carrying electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, or their batteries into elevator cars; it is stipulated that when carrying dogs into elevators, safety measures such as tightening the leash, wearing a muzzle, or placing the dog in a bag or cage must be taken.
During previous standing committee meeting deliberations, committee members generally believed that the promulgation of the Regulations is a powerful measure to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property, standardize elevator safety management behaviors
