Faced with the increase in elevator breakdowns, deputies will study a bill aimed at imposing a deadline on elevator manufacturers in the event of breakdowns. Problem according to professionals in the sector: machines are too often victims of vandalism, particularly in priority neighborhoods. And the mechanics, sometimes threatened, end up abandoning maintenance contracts.
A broken elevator and people, often elderly or with reduced mobility, who find themselves stuck in their apartments. Every year, nearly a million and a half breakdowns are recorded across France, with some stories even being entitled to a few lines in the press.
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Faced with the situation, a bill is arriving this Thursday, January 23 at the National Assembly, aiming to impose a repair deadline on elevator manufacturers. But on the business side, the problem of broken elevators comes mainly from repeated damage to the equipment.
Pure and simple vandalism
So, the Federation of Elevator Manufacturers does not hide it. Repeated deliberate damage, particularly in so-called sensitive neighborhoods, is recurrent. “It just goes from kicking in doors to burning buttons,” annoys Olivier Rouvière, the president of the federation, at the microphone of Europe 1.
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Burnt buttons that put devices out of commission from pure vandalism. But worse, the elevators also serve as a hideout for traffickers. “It’s very easy in an elevator to be able to hide either weapons or drugs, either in the machinery or in the elevator. So unfortunately, the elevator can be hijacked by this type of deviant behavior,” continues- he.
Elevator operators who abandon contracts
The result again is damaged elevator walls and ceilings and the fear of maintenance technicians to intervene, which extends repair times. “In certain areas, elevator operators are leaving the premises. I have cases in Marseille and Mulhouse where the elevator operator decided to renew the contract to the extent that the safety of its employees was not ensured,” explains Olivier Rouvière.
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Especially since acts of vandalism take place on elevators which are often more than 40 years old and whose parts are no longer mass-produced, which delays repairs a little further.
