A Comprehensive Study On Safety Supervision On Old Elevators In Zhongshan

With the sustained development of economy and rapid urbanization in China,elevators have been used more frequently in daily life.To date,the number of elevators in use has exceeded 5.6 million and maintained an annual growth rate of more than 20%.In the meanwhile,the old elevators,which have been served for more than 15 years,are expanding quickly.Taking Zhongshan City as an example,there were 1051 old elevators in use in 2016.However,this number is expected to be in excess of 30000 in 2031,implying a thirty-fold growth in 15 years.The use of old elevators has attracted widespread attention,as there are many accidents related to their seriously worn-out components and low reliability.In this context,this paper takes Zhongshan City as a case study to analyze the current situation of old elevators in use,with the hope of improving their safety supervision.Based on the theories of Collaborative Governance,this paper analyzes the existing problems about safety supervision and management of old elevators in Zhongshan City from the perspectives of government,industry,market and community,through using methods of interview,literature review and summarization.A variety of existing issues are found including: insufficient government supervision;low participation of elevator industry associations;underdeveloped maintenance markets for old elevators;violation operations in public use and difficulties in elevator maintenance and reconstruction.The main reasons behind these issues are summarized in this paper as: poor regulations and standard systems;outdated administrative supervision from the government;undeveloped elevator industry associations;ambiguity of responsibility for enterprises to provide maintenance;the lack of public safety awareness of using elevators and insufficient efforts on elevator maintenance and reconstruction.Drawing lessons from the U.S.,the UK and Germany regarding elevator safety supervision,and following the idea of building a supervision pattern of collaborative development,governance and sharing,some policy suggestions are proposed to improve safety supervision on old elevators in Zhongshan City as follows: improving regulations and standard systems;strengthening administrative supervision on old elevators;promoting elevator industry associations;normalizing maintenance markets for old elevators;guiding public participation in safety supervision on old elevators and optimizing the operation mechanism for elevator maintenance and reconstruction.