Elevator, boiler inspections not being done, Nevada auditor says

Legislative auditors charged this week that more than 5,500 elevators and boilers in Nevada were operating without required inspection certificates.

The auditors were highly critical of the Industrial Relations Division saying as of June 30, 4,360 elevators and 1,188 boilers were without current inspection certificates and some had been that way for years.

“Furthermore, another 90 objects constructed since 2005 never received a final inspection to certify installation was in accordance with established codes,” the audit report said.

The audit report said the core of the problem is the division “relies entirely upon the owner to identify certificate expiration dates, schedule inspections and fix code violations.

“No mechanism existed at the division to identify those with expired or soon to be expired certificates.”

Auditors say those inspections are necessary for safety reasons and inspection violations are “a clear warning these objects are not operating within normally accepted standards and may be unsafe.”

In addition to the safety concerns lack of inspections raises, the audit points out the division failed to collect some $1.4 million in fees over the past few years by not doing inspections.

Division Administrator J.D. Decker said that’s precisely what he and his team have been working on and some of the repairs to the system have already been made. He said now the division is sending notices to elevator and boiler owners 60 days before their certificates expire and laying out the renewal and inspection process for them. He said they’re also starting to track whether those inspections are done and establishing sanctions if they aren’t inspected as required.

Decker said the division has also begun tracking all construction permits issued for boilers and new or replacement elevators.

He told lawmakers the agency has accepted all the auditors’ recommendations to improve the system.