Washington State A17.3 Code Update & News!

Written By Sarah Waterman

The Washington State Elevator Safety Advisory Committee AKA ESAC is a group of stakeholders whose purpose is to advise and work with the Elevator Program on all matters regarding the elevator industry.  They held their quarterly meeting on May 21st and it was full of thrills!  Here are Washington Elevator’s key takeaways (the first one is a big one) that you will want to read: 

  • A17.3.  We have been closely watching progress on the State of Washington A17.3 enforcement (refer back to our first blog in March).  In a surprising twist, Labor & Industries (L&I) confirmed that they will be suspending enforcement of the code.  They decided that the marginal safety improvement is not worth the significant investment that building owners would be forced to make. 

    Gerald Brown, Chief Elevator Inspector, further stated, “Washington State has had a minimum safety standard in rule or WAC for 10 years prior to 2018. This body of work has resulted in no reported deaths, accidents, injuries dealing with A17.3 specific safety items. The current position is to not enforce and to suspend A17.3 like many other jurisdictions. Our intent is to revisit past WAC rules to once again provide protections in the WAC that has resulted in our current level of safety.”  

    Our understanding is that the code will remain in place but will not be enforced.  The State of Washington L&I division will be providing confirmation in writing. 

  • Hiring Freeze.  There is a hiring freeze at the State of Washington.  Open Elevator Inspector positions will not be backfilled.  ESAC expressed concern over this from a safety perspective. 

  • City of Seattle.  Seattle anticipates they will be adopting the 2024 Seattle Building Code (SBC) and ASME A17.1-2022.  But 2021 SBC has not been adopted yet.  The earliest adoption of 2021 SBC is September 30, 2024.  There is no plan to adopt A17.3.

  • Conveyance Management System (CMS).  This is the new system that L&I is implementing where building owners can print Annual Operating Certificates, view/respond to inspections, request extensions and more.  The roll-out of this system has been delayed.  New go-live date is October 25, 2024.  The system demonstration and user testing is expected July – September.  More information can be found here.

We will continue to monitor elevator code and/or enforcement changes for the State of Washington and the City of Seattle. Updates will be provided as soon as they become available. If you have any further questions on what this might mean to you, please don’t hesitate 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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