Elevator Inspectors Giving the Shaft

By Sean Stillmaker in News on Feb 6, 2011 5:30PM

An elevator inspector is a sweet gig on the market. In addition to your salary from your inspection company, you can get paid anywhere from $200-500 for 15 minutes worth of work. That work is watching a mechanic do his job.

The “witnessing fee” mandates the inspector to watch an elevator car being held in place for 15 minutes at its highest point of the shaft. If the car doesn’t move the mechanic did the job right, and everyone gets paid, the Daily Herald reports.

The provision was written in the Elevator Safety and Regulation Act. Previously mechanics would do the test, leave a tag with the results and an inspector would check later. The witnessing fee has no oversight, is marked up per site and is paid by the building tenants.

Chicago is exempt from this law. There are 22,000 elevators and moving conveyances in the city, but a 2009 Tribune report found nearly 70 percent went unchecked in that year. It's a good thing Chicago is exempt. There would probably be an explosion of patronage jobs all looking for their tips.