While there are about 10,000 periodic inspections, the department gets nearly 3,000 applications for new lifts every year

For the about 40,000 elevators installed in buildings around the Capital, the Delhi government’s Labour Department has only 17 inspectors to carry out periodic safety inspections.

According to the Labour Department, though all new applications for permission to operate a lift are scrutinised and a site inspection carried out, the annual safety checks for existing elevators remains lacking due to a shortage of staff.

No lift in Labour Dept

Ironically, the office of the lift inspectors in the Labour Department is located on the third floor and has no lift.

A senior official of the Labour Department said that the Electrical Inspectorate has 17 inspectors, which includes deputy electrical inspectors, assistant electrical inspectors and electrical overseers or sub-inspectors, to carry out site inspections for new applications as well as checks of old lifts.

With 2,500 to 3,000 applications for new lifts every year, the inspectors are able to carry out periodic inspections of about 8,000 to 10,000 existing lifts annually. The rest are not checked.

For new applications, the process was made online in March this year. Applicants have to upload drawings of their lift to the e-district portal of the government. After an inspector scrutinises the drawings, a permission to install a lift is granted within three days. After the work of installing the lift is complete, the building’s owner then has to apply online for a permission to operate the lift, at which point an inspector has 15 days to conduct a site visit.

While the department maintains that all new applications are inspected, it is now in the process of outsourcing the checks of existing lifts. The Labour Department notified an amendment of the Delhi Lift Rules on June 5 that allows the government to authorise private individuals with the required experience and expertise to conduct safety checks for lifts.

Notified amendment

The Delhi government’s Labour Department has notified an amendment to the Delhi Lift Rules, 1942, which will allow people to apply for authorisation to test elevators. The official added that these people will not be considered “inspectors”, but will be called “authorised persons”. The official said that while they would be allowed to carry out checks, the department would conduct random inspections of 10 per cent of the lifts checked.

“We will act as a regulator, not as an inspector,” the official said, adding that the goal was to cover all the lifts in Delhi annually.

Till the notification is implemented, Delhi’s lifts will continue to be checked by 17 inspectors.