ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 is the harmonized North American standard covering the design, construction, operation, inspection, testing, maintenance, alteration, and repair of: escalators, elevators, dumbwaiters and other related equipment.

Updated for 2010, the new edition of the Elevator Safety Code contains over 700 additions, revisions and enhancements, including:

• Enhanced requirements for suspension means and a reference to the new ASME A17.6, Suspension, Compensation and Governor Systems
• Strength of passenger car doors
• Passenger car flame test requirements
• Maintenance, repair, replacement and testing requirements for elevators and escalators.
• Illumination of cars, and lighting fixtures
• Monitoring of car door electric contacts
• Safety requirements for terminal switches, including requirements for firefighter's stop switch
• Fire resistance requirements for car enclosure materials
• Speed limits for escalators and moving walkways
• New requirements for firefighters' operation panel
• Emergency operation and signaling devices

Non-mandatory appendices have also been added, covering inspection and replacement of steel wire ropes, as well as design requirements for traction elevator suspension systems.

Scope

This standard covers the design, construction, operation, inspection, testing, maintenance, alteration, and repair of the following equipment, its associated parts, and its hoistways, where located in or adjacent to a building or structure:
(a) hoisting and lowering mechanisms, equipped with a car or platform, which move between two or more landings. This equipment includes, but is not limited to, elevators;
(b) power driven stairways and walkways for carrying persons between landings. This equipment includes, but is not limited to escalators and moving walks;
(c) hoisting and lowering mechanisms equipped with a car which serves two or more landings and is restricted to the carrying of material by its limited size or limited access to the car. This equipment includes, but is not limited to, dumbwaiters and material lifts.