Elevator code: ASME A17.1, local adoption, and what it means for tenants

Elevator code

The baseline safety code for elevators and escalators in North America is ASME A17.1 / CSA B44, the Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, published jointly by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Canadian Standards Association. States, cities, and provinces adopt a specific edition with local amendments. The result is a patchwork: the engineering fundamentals are shared, but the legally enforceable rules vary by jurisdiction. As of 2026, the most recent published edition is A17.1-2025 (published January 2026); the widely adopted working edition in most US jurisdictions is A17.1-2022 or A17.1-2019.

What ASME A17.1 covers

The code governs every elevator and escalator from design through decommissioning. The parts most relevant to passenger elevators in occupied buildings:

• Part 1: Scope, purpose, and definitions — defines the terms used throughout the code and the equipment it applies to
• Part 2: Electric elevators — design, construction, installation requirements for traction and MRL (machine-room-less) elevators
• Part 3: Hydraulic elevators — similar requirements for hydraulic systems
• Part 5: Special-application elevators — including residential elevators (Section 5.3), inclined and limited-use (Sections 5.2 / 5.7), sidewalk elevators
• Part 6: Escalators and moving walks — geometry, speed, braking, handrail speed, step-chain requirements
• Part 7: Dumbwaiters and material lifts — separate requirements for small freight equipment
• Part 8: General requirements — inspection, testing, maintenance, alterations
• Part 9: Reference codes and standards — interaction with NEC (electrical), fire codes, seismic codes

(Part 4 covers elevators using rack-and-pinion and screw machines and is rarely encountered outside specialty applications.)

Specific requirements that riders and tenants occasionally encounter:

• Hoistway door interlocks: must prevent the cab from moving unless every non-adjacent hoistway door is closed and locked
• Sill clearance: no more than 3/4 of an inch between the hoistway door and the landing sill edge, to prevent objects or feet from falling into the shaft
• Emergency lighting: required battery backup in the cab for lighting in case of power loss; the code specifies minimum duration depending on elevator type
• Two-way emergency communication: required in all new passenger elevators, with automatic dialing to a monitored line
• Door reopening device: mechanical safety edge or electronic detector on the car door, required to retract doors on contact
• Inspection intervals: Category 1 annual, Category 5 every five years, plus jurisdictional periodic inspections

How it's adopted into state and city law

Every US state has either adopted ASME A17.1 directly, adopted a specific edition with amendments, or written its own elevator code that closely tracks A17.1. The adopting authority is typically:

• A state labor department or industrial commission (most states)
• A state elevator safety board (some states)
• A city building department, where the city has its own code (New York City, Chicago, and a few others)

The National Elevator Industry Inc. (NEII) tracks code adoption across North American jurisdictions and advocates for modernizing older adoptions.

The edition matters. If your state adopted the 2019 edition, the 2022 changes haven't taken effect there yet. When a building modernizes an elevator, the work is verified against the currently adopted edition, which is why some modernization projects look "ahead" of the baseline code.

Local amendments also matter. The New York City Department of Buildings adopts ASME A17.1 into the NYC Building Code but adds stricter requirements in several areas, including periodic inspection frequency and documentation. Chicago, Philadelphia, and a few other cities maintain their own code cultures.

Canada, the UK, and elsewhere

Canada: CSA B44 is the joint version with A17.1 and is adopted by provinces through their technical safety authorities — the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) in Ontario, RBQ in Quebec, Technical Safety BC, and equivalent bodies in other provinces.

United Kingdom: the UK uses EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 (the European lift safety standards) implemented through the Lifts Regulations 2016. Continuing maintenance and periodic thorough examination fall under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

European Union: EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 are the current editions of the European lift safety standard, harmonized across EU member states.

Asia and rest of world: many jurisdictions reference either ASME A17.1 or EN 81 as the baseline, with local adaptations.

Practical implications for tenants

Tenants don't need to read the code, but there are a few places where the code shows up in tenant rights:

• Inspection certificates must be current and posted. An expired certificate signals a code violation. See our inspection guide.
• The cab must have a working emergency communication system. If the intercom is dead when you press the call button during a normal ride, that's a code issue, not just bad service.
• Leveling must be within code tolerance. A large gap between the cab and the landing is a fall hazard and a citable violation.
• Doors must reopen on contact. Doors that close forcefully on a person without reversing are a code violation and a safety hazard.

When any of these show up, report them. See the report guide for the right channel.

Where the code stops and public accountability picks up

The code governs engineering: how elevators are designed, installed, tested, and maintained to technical standards. It doesn't govern how often a specific building's elevator actually works. A building can be fully code-compliant on paper and still have outages every week. That's the gap that public outage tracking fills — not replacing code enforcement, but making the real-world reliability record visible alongside it.