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Audit Objective

Determine whether the City Bureau of Buildings (Bureau) officials ensured that elevators were inspected as required by the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Code) or the City of New Rochelle’s (City) local law, as applicable.

Key Findings

• Although the City’s Elevator Master List included 226 properties with 308 elevators and related equipment, our visits to 58 properties disclosed 140 elevators and related equipment that were not included.
• 75 of 85 property owners did not submit either six month or annual inspection reports. Also, violation notices were not sent to 68 (91 percent) of these property owners.
• Bureau officials did not follow up on violations/ deficiencies on the inspection reports submitted by property owners. Serious elevator deficiencies included 35 instances and included violations such as no emergency phone and no fire extinguisher.

Key Recommendations

• Identify, track and monitor elevators and related equipment to ensure the Master List is complete and accurate.
• Enforce the submission of inspection reports by property owners and issue violation notices to those who do not submit them.
• Ensure all elevators and related equipment are inspected and certificates are on display or available for inspection.

City officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings and recommendations, but indicated they have initiated corrective action. Appendix B includes our comments on issues raised in the City’s response letter.