Kendall County, IL Building Safety: Elevator Maintenance (2026)

Kendall County Code § 8-58 folds elevator safety into the County Building Code adopted under Sec. 8-19 (the 2024 International Building Code and related codes). The section reaches every permanent mechanical device that moves people, not just passenger elevators: escalators, automobile lifts, man lifts, personnel hoists and moving sidewalks all have to conform to the codes the county has adopted and to the rules of the office of the State Fire Marshal. Three stages of paperwork have to be certified as code-compliant: construction documents, the acceptance test performed when a unit is first installed, and periodic tests and inspections performed afterward.

That certification cannot come from just anyone; the ordinance defines an 'approved agency' as a certified member of the National Association of Elevator Safety Authorities, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or an equivalent the Code Official approves. Periodic testing and inspection has to happen at intervals of no more than six months, or more often if the Code Official requires it, keeping commercial and institutional lifts on a documented maintenance cycle. The one carve-out is for elevators inside residential structures, which are exempted from the periodic test and inspection requirement altogether, leaving the six-month cycle aimed at commercial, industrial and public buildings in the unincorporated county.