Thousands of Maryland elevators, boilers and pressure vessels were not inspected as required by state law, according to a new audit that reveals that some inspections of the potentially hazardous equipment were overdue by more than five years.
A report released Wednesday by Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits shows that 1,549 elevators and 2,943 boilers and pressure vessels were at least three months behind on required safety inspections as of June 2011.
In other words, 7 percent of all elevators and one of every 20 boilers did not meet legal standards for inspections, prompting public safety concerns from investigators.
“For years and years, this has been a real big issue,” said Legislative Auditor Bruce Myers, adding that state officials “finally look like they’re making a dent” in the backlog of work orders for both elevators and boilers.
That the most recent findings demonstrate an improvement shows how beleaguered the state’s Division of Labor and Industry — responsible for safety inspections of elevators, boilers, amusement parks and railroads — has traditionally been in terms of monitoring the devices.
An audit from just two years ago, for example, showed that more than 5,500 Maryland elevators were lacking the required inspections.
Myers said the inspection problems have been tied primarily to a lack of workers and a failure to keep records up to date.
Yet state officials praised the report as proof of how much they had improved in an area where there have been shortcomings for decades.
“This is an audit we are extremely proud of,” said Alexander Sanchez, secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which oversees the inspections. “The ones that are overdue are almost always a situation where the building is no longer functioning or the landlord is not available. Categorically, there’s been no safety issue.”
Asked why the division continually failed to meet Maryland law, Sanchez replied, “The state doesn’t pay as well as the private sector,” pointing to a revolving door of the specialized talent needed to perform the work.
In their official response to the audit, state officials said they had reduced the elevator inspection backlog by 88 percent during the last three fiscal years and by 82 percent for boilers during the same period.
Maryland officials contend that shifting responsibility for the evaluations to elevator maintenance companies has been the primary factor in reducing overdue evaluations — but that still leaves them well short of meeting state standards.
