PBC Case Study: KONE Ropes
8mm suspension ropes and 6mm governor ropes are used extensively outside North America. Over the past three years KONE has received variances for their use across the US and Canada.

After the Lift Instituut received its accreditation as an AECO from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), KONE contracted with the AECO to undertake a PBC certification process with respect to these ropes.

The certification process was robust and highly interactive, with Lift Instituut and KONE in constant contact for approximately 2.5 months.   Among other things, Lift Instituut inquired about many aspects of quality control with respect to the manufacture of the ropes and their subsequent inspection.

In October, 2009 KONE was granted a Certificate of Conformance (CoC) by the Lift Instituut.  At that point, KONE contacted AHJ’s in New Hampshire and North Carolina – both of which have adopted A17.1 (2007) and presented the CoC and accompanying report.

North Carolina and New Hampshire AHJ’s have accepted the CoC and approved use of the KONE ropes in accordance with the Performance Based Code for Elevator Safety.

PBC Case Study: Otis Coated Steel Belts
Otis Elevator and its Coated Steel Belts (used on the Gen2 elevator systems) served as the pilot project for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) pursuant to its accreditation as an AECO. Each candidate AECO was required by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to undertake a pilot project as a condition of winning accreditation. Thus far, three AECOs have been accredited by ANSI.

Extensively documented based on years of experience with variance processes around the country, the process of securing AECO approval for the Coated Steel Belts still required approximately four months to complete. Otis’ submitted Code Compliance Document (CCD) included identifying the GESR’s (Global Essential Safety Requirements) pertinent to the AECO certification and a comprehensive Risk Assessment including risk mitigation descriptions as required by the A17.7/B44.7 Code. Otis also provided extensive technical information, engineering analysis and testing procedures, test data, as well as manufacturing quality controls. Installation, Inspection and Maintenance guides were also included. During the review, UL conducted a gap analysis and identified several gaps all of which were subsequently addressed in the document. They also inquired about the calibration of test equipment and the certification of entities performing that calibration and Otis responded to those questions. All in all the documentation submitted amounted to several hundreds of pages.

While the UL accreditation was pending, Otis began discussions with the Chief Elevator Inspector of Iowa. Although Iowa had previously rejected Otis’ Coated Steel Belts and had never granted a variance for their use, the state’s burgeoning wind power business presented a perfect opportunity. Energy conversion windmills require elevators and the State required a means of approving Windmill Elevators which are not specifically addressed in the A17.1/B44 Code. Iowa recognized that A17.7/B44.7 Performance Based Code provided a process for the acceptance of Windmill Elevators. This also helped the State realize the benefit of the Performance Based Code for innovative products. So, as soon as Iowa adopted A17.7/B44.7 the state accepted the UL Certificate for Gen2 via the Performance Based Code for Elevator Safety.