Each year, superintendent of facilities David Ortega chooses a Texas Department of Licensing and Registration certified inspector to check all 19 campus elevators to look at each of the 50 electrical devices in the elevators, make sure the elevators won't run when the door opens and that the doors do not close faster than one foot per second.
The most recent validation certificate in the elevators shows the most recent inspection happened May 10, 2007, and that another inspection is due one year later but has not occurred.
But Ortega said the inspector performed the inspection by May 10 this year and the state agency has not finalized the inspection because of a lengthy processing procedure.
The current certificate shows a board confirmation date of Nov. 7, 2007.
According to Code 754.023 of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Health and Safety Code for elevators, escalators and related equipment, Ortega or the facility head of another building or set of buildings has 60 days to send the results to the board.
From this point, according to the department's head elevator inspector Lawrence Taylor, the checks can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days, depending on performance, neatness of paperwork and timeliness of turning in reports.
"A report that's completely filled out without any violations is processed quickly, but incomplete reports with more violations will take longer," Taylor said.
"When a report comes in, it's at the bottom of the pile and it depends how fast we can get it to the top."
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