Elevator Availability

Enhancing Elevator Safety and Availability in Ontario  

As part of the effort to enhance the availability and safety of elevators, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is implementing an elevator outage portal that will allow elevator owners and licensees (the person in charge of the elevating device as the licence holder) to report extended elevator outages.

Starting July 1, 2022, owners and licensees of elevators in residential buildings and long-term care homes are required to report to TSSA elevator outages lasting more than 48 hours. The reporting needs to be completed within 30 days after the day the elevator has returned to service.

Data on elevator outages will be used for public reporting purposes and to inform and shape future regulatory decisions on elevator safety and availability.

TSSA’s elevator outage portal, scheduled to go live in the summer of 2022, is intended to show historical data of reported elevator outages that have been out of service for more than 48 hours.

For more information on what the new rules mean to elevator owners, contractors and users, please refer to the following resources:

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Read press releases: 
                 - April 15, 2022: Requirement to Report Elevator Outages Takes Effect in July 2022
                 - December 15, 2022: Enhancing Ontario's Elevator Safety and Availability

• Subscribe for updates below

Background

There are almost 20,000 passenger elevators across more than 10,000 residential and institutional buildings in Ontario. As the existing stock of elevators ages and the province continues to experience rapid growth in the construction of buildings (including high-rise condominiums), stakeholders across Ontario have raised a variety of issues related to the availability of elevators, according to former Justice Douglas Cunningham's recommendations in his 2018 reporton elevator availability.  

To look at how these regulatory changes can help ensure that elevators are well maintained and meet safety requirements, the Ontario government conducted consultations from July 2 to August 4, 2020 and sought input on the proposed regulatory changes under the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000.

Please refer to the following resources for more information:
-        Elevating Devices regulation
-        Auditor General of Ontario’s recommendations on improving elevator safety