Revised Statutes of Newfoundland 1990 Chapter E-6

(b) "elevator" means an apparatus, appliance or device, whether or not a part of a building, used for lifting, lowering or transporting persons or goods from 1 permanent level, floor, landing or point to another and includes a dumbwaiter, escalator, man lift, incline lift, aerial tram, ski lift or ski tow;

(d) "minister" means the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations; and

(e) "owner" means a person, firm or corporation in charge of an elevator whether as owner, tenant, subtenant or as an agent for that owner, tenant or subtenant and in relation to a firm or corporation includes the manager and directors of that firm or corporation, but does not include an attendant employed to operate an elevator.

RSN1970 c107 s2; 1973 No34 Sch B; 1977 c29 s3; 1984 c40 Sch B; 1989 c25 Sch B

3. This Act does not apply to

(a) elevators in private dwelling houses occupied or constructed to be occupied as a separate dwelling by 1 person or by a family unit;

(b) skips, cages and other elevators used in a mine within the meaning of the Mines Act;

(d) portable piling or stacking machines used within 1 story;

(e) appliances which feed materials into or position materials at machine tools, printing presses, furnaces or other processing plants; or

(f) a class or subclass of elevator excluded by the regulations.

RSN1970 c107 s3; 1971 No24 s2; 1984 c13 s1

4. (1) For the purpose of this Act, the minister shall appoint a person to be a chief inspector and may

(a) appoint 1 or more persons to be inspectors; and

(b) during a period of absence from office of the chief inspector, designate a person to act as chief inspector.

(2) No person shall be an inspector who has an interest in the manufacture, sale, installation or maintenance of elevators or of equipment used in connection with elevators.

RSN1970 c107 s5

5. The owner of every elevator, other than an elevator which is closed by seal or is otherwise incapable of being used or operated, shall have it inspected at least once in every year by giving notice in writing to the chief inspector.

RSN1970 c107 s6

6. (1) The chief inspector shall inspect every elevator in respect of which written notice has been given by an owner under section 5 and may inspect an elevator at all reasonable times.

(2) For the purposes of carrying out the duties imposed on him or her by subsection (1), an inspector may

(a) at all reasonable times on production by him or her of proof of his or her appointment as an inspector, enter upon property where there is an elevator, or where he or she has reasonable grounds for believing an elevator is situated;

(b) require the owner to prepare an elevator or part of that elevator for inspection;

(c) inspect an elevator or part by removing devices, testing parts and doing those things that he or she considers necessary to ensure that the elevator is safe and complies with the standards prescribed in the regulations; and

(d) by notice in writing require

(i) the owner of an elevator to do or refrain from doing, within a time that may be prescribed in the notice, those things that the notice may specify in order to ensure compliance with this Act and the regulations, or

(ii) the attendance before him or her of a person, at the time and place stated in the notice, and may examine that person under oath or affirmation regarding matters pertaining to an inspection.

RSN1970 c107 s7

7. (1) An inspector may issue to the owner a certificate for every elevator which shall be valid for 1 year from the date of issue.

(2) A certificate shall not be issued to an owner for an elevator which does not, in the opinion of the inspector, comply with the standards prescribed in the regulations, or if the owner is in breach of a provision of this Act or the regulations applicable to him or her.

(3) Every certificate issued under subsection (1) shall contain the conditions under which it is issued and shall be prominently displayed by the owner in a conspicuous position

(a) in the cabin of the elevator for which it is granted; or

(b) where it is granted in respect of an elevator for the carriage of goods only, in a conspicuous position at or adjacent to the place where the elevator is operated.

(4) No person other than an inspector shall operate an elevator unless there is in force in respect of it a valid certificate and then subject only to the conditions under which the certificate is granted.

RSN1970 c107 s8

8. (1) A certificate may be suspended or revoked by an inspector if in his or her opinion the elevator is unsafe or does not comply with the standards prescribed in the regulations or if the owner is in breach of a condition of this Act or a regulation applicable to him or her.

(2) A certificate may be transferred by an inspector to a new owner at any time during the validity of the certificate.

RSN1970 c107 s9

9. Where in the opinion of an inspector an elevator is unsafe or is being operated in a dangerous manner, whether or not there is in respect of it a valid certificate, and that opinion is conveyed to the owner or where there is contained in a notice given under paragraph 6(2)(d) a direction to refrain from operating the elevator, the owner shall immediately close the elevator and prohibit its use.

RSN1970 c107 s10

10. A person shall not commence installation of or major alteration to an elevator until plans, drawings and specifications of that installation or alteration have been approved by an inspector.

RSN1970 c107 s11

11. (1) Where an elevator falls freely, or where emergency supporting devices cease to function, or where an accident occurs that causes injury to a person in or near an elevator, the owner shall close the elevator, prohibit its use and give notice in writing to an inspector of the facts within 24 hours after the occurrence.

(2) Where a person dies or is killed in or near an elevator, the owner shall immediately notify an inspector by telephone, or other speedy means of communication of the fact and no person other than an inspector shall, except for the purposes of saving life or mitigating suffering, interfere with, disturb or remove wreckage or articles in or near the elevator.

(3) Where an owner has reason to suspect that there is a fault in the mechanism of an elevator, he or she shall report the fact to an inspector as soon as is reasonably practicable.

RSN1970 c107 s12

12. (1) An inspector shall on receipt of a notice or report under section 11 carry out an investigation so as to determine the cause of the occurrence, accident, death or suspicion and take the action that he or she considers appropriate to prevent a recurrence of the accident.

(2) An inspector may attend and be heard or represented at an inquiry held under the Summary Proceedings Act relating to the death of a person in or near an elevator.

RSN1970 c107 s13; 1979 c35 Sch A

13. (1) No person, other than an inspector, shall remove, displace, interfere with or damage an elevator.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an authorized mechanic employed by the owner to check, test or repair an elevator for the purposes of making it safe or complying with the standards prescribed in the regulations.

RSN1970 c107 s14

14. (1) An owner or other person aggrieved by a notice or direction of an inspector, or by the revocation or suspension of a certificate, or by anything done by an inspector under this Act or the regulations, may appeal against the notice, direction, revocation, suspension or other act complained of to a judge of the Trial Division.

(2) Where a person proposes to appeal under subsection (1), he or she shall, within 30 days after the date on which the notice, direction, revocation or suspension is mailed to or served on him or her or the time when the act complained of arose, serve on the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations a written notice of his or her intention to appeal.

(3) The notice of intention to appeal served under subsection (2) shall

(a) set out the grounds of appeal; and

(b) be signed by the prospective appellant or his or her solicitor or agent,

and a copy of the notice of intention to appeal shall be filed in the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

RSN1970 c107 s15; 1974 No57 Sch C;
1986 c42 Schs A&B

15. (1) An appellant shall, within 14 days after service of the notice of intention to appeal under subsection 14(2), apply to a judge of the Trial Division for a day for the hearing of the appeal and shall, at least 14 days before the hearing, serve upon the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations a written notice of the day of the hearing.

(2) The judge shall hear the appeal and the evidence adduced before him or her by the appellant and the Crown in a summary manner and shall decide the matter of the appeal.

(3) The minister shall produce before the judge on the hearing of the appeal all papers and documents in his or her possession affecting the matter of the appeal.

(4) The costs of the appeal are in the discretion of the judge and he or she may make an order respecting them in favour of or against the Crown and may fix the amount of the costs.

(5) An appeal may be taken from the order or decision of the judge to the Court of Appeal upon a point of law raised upon the hearing of the appeal and the rules governing appeals to that court from an order or decision of a judge of the Trial Division apply to that appeal.

RSN1970 c107 s16; 1974 No57 Sch D;
1986 c42 Sch B;

16. The giving of a notice of intention to appeal under section 14 or the appeal itself shall not affect the notice, direction or act of an inspector, or the revocation or suspension of a certificate by him or her, which shall remain in force pending the outcome of the appeal.

RSN1970 c107 s17

17. Where an action or proceeding is taken against an inspector for anything done by him or her under this Act or the regulations and the judge is satisfied that there was probable cause for the action of the inspector and that it was not malicious, a judgment shall not be given against the inspector for more than $0.05 damages or for costs of suit.

RSN1970 c107 s18

18. A person who

(a) fails to comply with this Act or the regulations;

(b) wilfully makes a false statement to an inspector or the minister;

(d) operates an elevator which has been closed with a seal; or

(e) fails to comply with a direction of an inspector,

is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to a term of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 months, or to both the fine and imprisonment.

RSN1970 c107 s19

19. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) excluding an elevator or class of elevators from the application of this Act;

(b) respecting the issue, suspension, revocation or transfer of certificates, the conditions under which they may be issued, suspended, revoked or transferred and the form and contents of certificates;

(c) fixing standards, minimum or otherwise, of the construction, design, installation, operation, testing and inspection of elevators or other equipment used in connection with elevators;

(d) prescribing requirements as to the quantity, form, substance and layout of plans and specifications of elevators, by whom they are to be prepared and submitted and the fees to be paid on their submission;

(e) governing the conduct and duty of owners and of persons in or about elevators;

(f) prescribing the fees to be paid for inspections or for the transfer of certificates by an inspector;

(g) respecting the construction, maintenance and use of elevators;

(h) respecting elevator seals and by whom they are to be applied;

(i) prescribing qualifications for persons who may be appointed inspectors; and

(j) generally, to give effect to the purpose of this Act.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may provide for different classes or descriptions of elevators and for the same class or description of elevators in different circumstances or locations.

(3) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may, in addition to or instead of regulations, adopt as regulations under paragraph (1)(c), by reference, the whole or a part of a published code, rules or standards, including a code, rules or standards of the Canadian Standards Association or the American National Standards Institute, with or without modification and supplements or amendments to them existing at present or in the future.

(4) For the purpose of this Act, a copy of a code, rules or standards or copies of supplements or amendments to a code, rules or standards referred to in subsection (3) signed and certified by the minister shall be kept on record and available for examination by all interested persons, in the minister's department.

(5) For the purpose of regulations made under this section, the record copies so signed, certified and kept shall be considered to be the applicable code, rules or standards, irrespective of a revised code, rules or standards or supplements or amendments made but not yet signed and certified by the minister.

(6) An alleged infringement of the regulations shall be governed by the code, rules or standards together with their supplements and amendments, as certified and on record at the time of that infringement.

(7) A certificate of the minister that a document is a copy of

(a) a code, rules or standards referred to in subsection (3); or

(b) an extract from an amendment to or a supplement or part of a supplement to that code, or those rules or standards

is without the need for further proof, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, evidence of the content of that code, those rules, or standards, that extract, amendment, supplement or part of a supplement.

RSN1970 c107 s20; 1973 No49 s2