scope:

ASME A17.1/CSA B44, Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, and ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7, Performance- Based Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, are the accepted guides for design, construction, installation, operation, inspection, testing, maintenance, alteration, and repair of elevators, dumbwaiters, escalators, moving walks, and material lifts. They are the basis in total or in part for elevator codes used throughout the United States and Canada.

ASME A17.1/CSA B44 and ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7 are only guides unless adopted as law or regulation by an authority having jurisdiction.

Local jurisdictions may, in their adopting legislation, occasionally revise and/or include requirements in addition to those found in ASME A17.1/CSA B44 and ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7. It is therefore advisable to check with the local jurisdiction before applying code requirements in any area.

Requirement 1.1.1(c) was revised in ASME A17.1-2013/CSA B44-13 to clarify that devices with hoisting and lowering mechanisms equipped with a car serving two or more landings and restricted to the carrying of materials but not classified as a dumbwaiter or material lift are not covered by the Code.

Requirement 1.1.2 outlines examples of equipment not covered by ASME A17.1/CSA B44 and ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7. Requirement 1.1.3 specifies those Parts and requirements of the Code that apply only to new installations, as well as those that apply to both new and existing installations. Requirement 1.1.3 was revised in ASME A17.1-2019/CSA B44:19 to include Section 8.12 because the International Building Code requires existing buildings to comply with ASCE 24 under certain conditions that would in turn affect new and existing elevators installed in an existing building.

PURPOSE AND EXCEPTIONS

ASME A17.1/CSA B44 requirements provide a framework for standards of safety for current products whose technologies have become state-of-the-art and commonplace. Throughout their long histories, the ASME A17 and CSA B44 Committees have shown responsiveness in preparing new requirements to address new designs and technologies.Throughout their long histories, the ASME A17 and CSA B44 Committees have shown responsiveness in preparing new requirements to address new designs and technologies.

However, elevator technology is advancing at a rapid pace. The advent and wide use of the Essential Safety Requirements (ESRs) of the Lifts Directive in the European Union (EU) has accelerated the pace of change. As safe elevators based on new technology become available, worldwide demand for these products increases. Elevator codes based on prescriptive language take time to change, given the nature of the consensus process upon which they are based. This hampers introduction of new technology into jurisdictions without a uniform, structured process acceptable to AHJ.

ASME A17.1-2004 and CSA B44-04 recognized the need for a method to introduce new technology. The preface to those Codes stated the following: