Mount Prospect, IL Building Safety: Elevator Maintenance (2026)

Two parts of Chapter 21 work together. Section 21.211 handles permits and inspections. The application must specify the number and kind of equipment or the nature of the alteration, with drawings and specifications, and it is unlawful for any agent, owner or contractor to allow installation or alteration until a permit is obtained and the permit fee paid. Permit fees, and the semiannual inspection fee for each elevator, escalator and dumbwaiter, are set in appendix A, division II under § 21.314.

Subsection D requires the director of community development or an authorized agent to inspect every elevator in operation, with its hoistway equipment, twice each year, and no new equipment goes into operation until it has been inspected. Owners, agents, lessees and occupants must permit an inspection within five (5) days from the date the demand is made. Subsection E then requires a certificate after a passing inspection and payment of the inspection fee. It states the date of inspection and the weight the equipment will safely carry, and the owner, agent, lessee or occupant is jointly and severally responsible for framing it and placing it in a conspicuous place in each elevator.

The elevator maintenance rule itself is new section 3010 of the Building Code amendments in § 21.103. The owner or the owner's legal agent must make all periodic tests and inspections and keep all equipment in a safe operating condition, and maintenance follows ASME A17.1. The person installing a device handles acceptance tests and is responsible for it until the authority having jurisdiction accepts it. If an inspection finds an unsafe condition, the authority serves written notice on the owner or lessee stating when repairs must be finished. Operating the equipment after that date is unlawful unless the repairs are made and approved, or an extension is secured in writing. In an emergency the authority can seal a device out of service.

Section 21.103 also requires at least one elevator in all buildings for fire department emergency access, sized for a 24 inch by 80 inch ambulance stretcher.