Masks, vaccination, social distancing. These are topics being debated in the public square, but they also have consequences for elevator use. As office workers trickle back to work, they are greeted by ubiquitous hand sanitizing stations, signs concerning mask wearing, and labels on the floor stating 6 feet apart. They are also told how many people can get on an elevator, and where to stand once they board. Typically, we see elevators that would normally accommodate 10 to 15 passengers being limited to 4. If the building were fully occupied, and if occupants were to arrive and depart as they did pre-Covid, the result would be unacceptably long wait times and lines that spilled out into corridors and perhaps outside the building.
It seems reasonable to assume that restricted loading will be the norm for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is critical that all elevators be available during peak periods (morning arrival, lunch time, and afternoon departure) so that extended wait times can be avoided, or at least minimized. Elevator reliability, which has always been important, is now vital to the proper functioning of every building.
Building owners and managers, more than ever before, must ensure that elevator service companies are performing the preventive maintenance for which they are contracted. A tool such as Elevator365 can be used to help building owners, and their contractors, plan and monitor the essential tasks to maximize elevator availability.
Consideration should be given, where feasible, for intrusive maintenance and repairs (which requires the elevator to be made unavailable) to be performed on a not-to-interfere basis. Services could be provided at night or on weekends, depending on the building’s needs and the associated costs.
To lessen the impact of restricted loading, building occupants may wish to consider staggering their workers’ start times; limiting the days they report to the office versus working from home; enabling and encouraging staff to have lunch on the floors on which they work; and extolling the health benefits of using the stairs.
Your elevator professional can help you navigate the new, post-Covid world of vertical transportation. They can run traffic simulations and make suggestions based on your building’s unique characteristics. For more information, contact Elevator365.
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