Elevator testing
There are 222 elevators, 11 escalators, and 61 lifts and dock levellers on the St. George campus. Like all University equipment and facilities, they require regular maintenance to function properly. While elevators are among the safest form of transportation, the University works to maintain a high standard of safety through rigorous testing. Through collaboration with industry experts and regulatory authorities, a strict set of guidelines have been established to govern these tests.
There are two main categories of tests mandated by the Technical Safety and Standards Authority (TSSA); these must be conducted by qualified at regular intervals on all licensed elevating devices in the province of Ontario.
Category 1 (annual) testing
Annual testing involves a thorough visual inspection of all safety-related devices associated with the elevator. After passing a visual inspection, all pertinent devices are tested manually to ensure that they are safe and reliable. Each elevator will be out of service for two to three hours during these tests.
Category 2 (five-year) testing
Five-year testing adds several additional components to the annual testing process. By definition, this testing is far more comprehensive and will take between six and eight hours. Elevators will be out of service during this time.
First, a visual inspection and manual testing of all safety-related devices takes place. After the elevator passes this first stage, a two-phase load test begins. Full load testing consists of a series of hard stops involving the buffers, drive systems, overspeed governor, and safeties. This process includes over-capacity load testing, which involves a series of hard stops while the unit is weighted at 125% of its listed weight capacity.
Service alerts
U of T Facilities & Services endeavours to communicate openly and clearly about all elevator operational statuses; please subscribe to the service alerts for relevant buildings to stay up to date about elevator service and outages.
Please speak to your supervisor or contact Adam Lucas, manager, elevator operations and maintenance, with any questions pertaining to the testing and safety of elevators on the St. George campus. Adam can be reached by email at a.lucas@utoronto.ca.