What’s the latest “411” with A17.3 Enforcement & Door Lock Monitoring?

Written By Sarah Waterman

In January 2024, we posted a blog about Door Lock Monitoring and A17.3, but information is constantly changing. For example, recently a building owner received a proposal from their service company to survey if his elevator required a code upgrade for Door Lock Monitoring (DLM). Researching DLM they found our blog and reached out to us. Following our conversation they sent us an email saying “Thanks to your blog post we decided to contact L&I about DLM and yesterday, they confirmed that our 30-year-old elevator will need an inspection. But surprisingly, from their response, it sounds like we may not even need to pay at all. In fact, L&I might be doing it for free.”

The Inspector with the State of Washington Labor & Industries informed the building owner:

“If your conveyance (elevator) does fall under the guidelines of the 2015 ASME A17.3 requirements, it is good to note that the door lock monitoring is only a small part of the requirements outlined in this code. There are approximately 240 different items that are required to comply with in total; however, door lock monitoring and emergency fire operation are the two biggest compliance items.

Washington State Labor & Industries (LNI) is trying to put together a comprehensive way to have conveyance owner’s notified on how to comply with all of these requirements, with the least amount of financial impact on conveyance owners.

Conveyance owners will be notified by LNI as to when and which of these requirements you will have to comply with as part of the inspection process.”

While it still isn’t clear when or exactly how enforcement will take place due to on-going discussions at the State level, we speculate two potential scenarios:

1. Building owner’s code compliance will be included in some form on the annual State of Washington elevator inspection code report written up as a correction required.

2. The State of Washington has adopted A17.3 and may elect to retroactively enforce the code.

We will continue to update you as we learn more! Some elevator service providers are sending blanket letters and/or proposals to their customers, recommending that they add Door Lock Monitoring.  Before you sign a proposal, we want you to make an informed decision for you and your building. If you have general questions on the State of Washington or City of Seattle inspection code report processes, check out our helpful blog. As always, feel free to reach out to our Chief Problem Solver, Sean.

Sarah Waterman

Sarah has been in the customer service business for over 25 years, first in Property Management, then transitioning into the Elevator industry, where she held the position of General Manager at Seattle's largest, most reputable independent company, followed by Branch Manager & Senior Sales Manager at one of the OEM majors.

However, her shared values & trust with the Founder, Jason, whom she worked with for nearly 10 years in the trade, plus her authentic desire to bring a breath of fresh air into the industry, compelled her to join Washington Elevator as a Partner in July of 2022. Sarah strives to provide a positive customer experience in order to build a long-term partnership.

When she isn't leading the team, she loves spending time with her two amazing teenagers, crabbing on Whidbey Island, but on a good night, her favorite activity is beating her husband in a game of cribbage!

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