Home Forums General Discussion Code Questions Earthquake Indicator on Independent Operation

Has anyone been called for an indicator lamp to illuminate in the car under earthquake conditions while on independent operation? The inspector is sighting 8.4.10.1.1(b) ASME A17.1 2004, that all group 4 elevators need this feature if they have independent operation. In this code it only states "Attendant" operation, but he is saying "Attendant" and "Independent" are the same. Does anyone know where the definition can be found for each operation, or are they one and the same? Thanks!

havent had to deal with this yet but does it have to say earthquake or is the fire hat or a please exit when doors open light work? i do know that the state thinks any normal operation that does not close the doors automatically is "attendant".
the funny thing is that all these new codes come out and the riding public has no clue what any of these lights mean or even look up to notice them. how many times have you done a fire service test and the people ask whats going on and think the elevator is broken.

I am guessing it is Jafar? or Paul? Anyway, you are correct. I ended up going right to Singleton and he shut them down. I will say that San Diego mandates this as their interpretation.

Good point GP, in a real earthquake, I don't think anyone is going to need to see a little message indicating "earthquake happening please exit". On the serious side though, I don't see why they differentiate between lighting an indicator while on independent operation, and not on automatic operation? What is the difference here, there could be people in the car in both instances, and at any rate the car will still enter eq mode and render itself inoperable. Does the code believe an attendant will continue to try and operate the elevator after an eq. This makes no sense. Maybe Robert Kreiger can shed some light on this. There must be a reason I am missing.

The code phrasing is a bit ambiguous. The two mentioned inspectors (neither worked in the field and one was an engineer for Otis) think Att Svc is the same as Independent.

I could not find in the code book what symbol (if any) should be on the indicator or if it can be can be the fire service jewel. I agree with the rest of you, this code makes no sense. The seismic box or the ring and string is going to stop the elevator anyway (even on independent). I'm really surprised that the inspectors are enforcing this rule. I think common sense should over rule this one!

On a 2 stop mod job in town they made us put in the Ada lighted/cancelled attendant box for the construction operator, new group 4 code. With the squawk boxes. It was a 12 ft rise you could muse knock on the door and he new where you were

Is there a way to see the code change submittal as to why 8.4.10.1.1(b) ASME A17.1 2004 is required?