Elevator Regulation Debacle

Recently there have been claims made that the Elevator Department was going to take back the regulation of Construction Hoists and implement their rules, oversight, and worst of all, licensure. Yesterday there was to be a meeting they were going to have on the matter. Many of us stakeholders were going to show up because the indication was that the regulations were going to drop on August 1, which is no time to prepare. When they heard many of us were coming, the meeting was cancelled and the implementation date was moved back to January 1. The hitting the pause button again and avoiding public meeting oversight is exactly the type of regulation we don't need. Seattle Tower Crane is going to use its unique position to stand in the way going forward. I just need you to watch my back.

In 2018 a GC I was working with was asking for a hoisting solution. Long story short, I got permission from a division of LnI to bring in Materials Hoists. These are materials only hoists that don't convey people. It was an open discussion. Then we had a consultation after the install. In 2020 we introduced a new model. We requested a consultation again, and the Crane Department also showed up. Both divisions thought it what we were doing were great solutions. I have the second letter saved.

In 2019 the Elevator Department was looking to address me going around town installing hoists that they should be regulating. As I understand it, the Chief at the time was making the case against me specifically when she found that they never had the underlying authority to regulate temporary hoists. RCW 70.87.200 has been in place since 1968. It excludes temporary hoists operated "at" the machine from regulations set forth in their division. Overnight in 2019, they dropped their regulatory scheme. And that's the backstory as I know it. I wasn't there, but it's about me so my phone rang.

Today we have 16 hoists. Our hoists lift up around 60 million pounds of building products a year. These are products that would otherwise be carried up stairs, be pushed up by forklifts, have people walking into boxes hung from cranes, or be handed into buildings out of scissor lifts. We have quietly lessened the dangers faced by workers building wood frame apartment buildings. We believe that transferring those loads back to people's backs and knees is not beneficial to anyone but a select few at the Elevator Department.

We exercised patience with the announcement. I tried to begin to speak to the Elevator Department. They were kind. But elusive and unconcerned or aware of the damage they were about to impose. They sent along training requirements of 5400 hours, due by August 1 in order to work on hoists. There were about 2100 total hours between word getting to me and the implementation. At the meeting on 5/19/2022 I was going to explain rationally how a Statement of Interpretation they have issued was flawed. But they cancelled the meeting. So here I am holding up jobs with the answer of, "I don't know." Today I know.

RCW 70.87.200 protects Seattle Tower Crane from oversight by the Elevator Department of Washington State. Our hoists both meet the definition in the law, and they are legal under ANSI A10.5 2020. The Department uses convoluted reasoning to suggest that current ANSI invalidates the older RCW's underlying basis so they can ignore it. No Sir. I stand here as a contractor not willing to put my business and my services on hold while this Department tries to figure it out. They have had 21 years since a Bellevue accident with you know who to implement a reasonable licensing and regulation plan. The series of Chiefs have clearly favored their union programs and made it so we can't get qualified training for decades. I carried a temporary license in 2004 and 05 because no test was developed. The one they use today asks Construction Hoist Mechanics about escalators. They still have no such test. It's such a debacle that there are 16 listed Licensed Mechanics. Four of them are active in Washington. Two of them work in the field. You can't even spray lubricant on a gear rack without a license. It's a disaster about to befall the industry because they have failed us for 21 years.

Seattle Tower Crane will stand in the way of the Elevator Department as possibly the only contractor delivering Materials Hoists recognized by ANSI A10.5 2020 and protected by RCW 70.87.200. Until the Legislature invalidates this law, I shall stand so that "None Shall Pass", hopefully better than the Black Knight. All I need from our industry is for others to watch my back. Reach out to your legislators so they know that your industry is looking to be hurt by an Elevator Department that had decades to get it right, and they never did. If you get my back, I'll get yours. Let's make sure we can keep building safely and not have government entities wandering in and out of industries. We need certainty and consistency.

The RCW's intent is clear. Temporary hoists as delivered in 1968 are exempt. This law would have been consistent with the 1963 Workman's Hoists for those that would like to dig into the matter.

RCW 70.87.200

Exemptions.

(1) The provisions of this chapter do not apply where:

(b) Lifts, hoists for persons, or material hoists are erected temporarily for use during construction work only and are of such a design that they must be operated by a worker stationed at the hoisting machine; or