Placing a Commercial Conveyance Out of Service or Removing from a Building or Site
Conveyances Allowed to be Placed Out of Service or Removed
If an existing conveyance is required to provide accessibility within a commercial building or site, the conveyance must remain in service. Conveyances that provide accessibility are passenger elevators, limited use limited application (LULA) elevators, Part V and residential-type elevators, outdoor inclined elevators, vertical platform lifts and inclined platform lifts.
Such elevators and platform lifts may be placed out of service or removed from a commercial building or site only if there is another accessible conveyance or another means to provide accessibility to the same locations, or if accessibility to those locations is no longer required due to a change in use, alteration to the building or site or building demolition. Prior approval from the building code authority is required before placing such a conveyance out of service or removing it from the building or site. See SPS 318.170811(5)(a) 7 and SPS 318.1810(3)(a) 6.
Freight elevators, Type B material lifts, dumbwaiters, escalators, moving walks, stairway chairlifts and stage and orchestra elevators are not required for accessibility therefore building code authority approval is not required before removing or placing them out of service.
Persons Allowed to Place a Conveyance Out of Service
An existing conveyance may be placed out of service only by personnel having the appropriate elevator or lift credential required by SPS 305.991(1)(a).
Persons Allowed to Remove or Dismantle a Conveyance NOT As Part of Building Demolition
Where the hoistway or wellway will remain, an existing conveyance may be removed or dismantled only by personnel having the appropriate elevator or lift credential required by SPS 305.991(1)(a).
Persons Allowed to Remove or Dismantle a Conveyance as Part of Building Demolition
Per Wisconsin state stat. 101.984 (2)(c) 1. paragraph (a), the requirements for individuals to be licensed do not apply to an individual who removes or dismantles a conveyance that is destroyed as a result of a complete demolition of the building or where the hoistway or wellway is demolished back to the basic support structure such that the hoistway or wellway is inaccessible Licensed elevator or lift personnel are not required to remove or dismantle a conveyance that will remain in the building while that part of the building is being demolished.
Elevators and other Conveyances Having In-Ground Hydraulic Jacks
An in-ground hydraulic jack that will no longer be used may not be abandoned in place. An in-ground jack may become unused when the conveyance it serves is permanently placed out of service, is converted to a different type of system that will not utilize the jack, the conveyance is removed from the building or the part of the building containing the conveyance is demolished. This requires removal of the entire jack, not only the head and piston or plunger.
After removal of an in-ground jack, the hole must be filled properly according to DNR requirements. Information about filling jack holes including required reporting of the work to the DNR may be found here: DNR Well Filling and Sealing
See the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) website for information regarding loss of oil from a leaking elevator hydraulic jack: What To Do In Case of An Oil Spill
Permit or Approval Through the Elevator Safety Program for Placing Out of Service or Removing a Conveyance
Although approval is needed through the commercial building program to remove some conveyances from service or from the building or site, a permit or approval is not required from the DSPS Elevator Safety Program to place a conveyance out of service. SPS 318.170811(5)(a) 6. requires inspection by an elevator inspector with the department or an agent of the department. The inspector will file an inspection report with the department so the conveyance will not be subject to periodic inspections.
A permit or approval is not required from the DSPS Elevator Safety Program to remove a conveyance from a commercial building or site. The department must be notified so the conveyance will be made non-existent in the state database records so the conveyance will no longer be subject to periodic inspections.
Returning a Conveyance to Service
A conveyance that had been placed out of service must pass a periodic inspection before being returned to service. This includes passing all applicable periodic tests. The conveyance will be tested and inspected to the codes under which it was installed or modernized. The conveyance is not required to meet the latest codes.
A permit or approval is not required to return an out-of-service conveyance back into service.