Escalator Field Guide
Elevator Field Guide
Vertical Transportation Field Guide
Get the app
Elevator & escalator industry resources
Codes, safety authorities, inspectors, and unions. Plus 14 free, plain-English references for the trade, every one sourced and dated.
Find your code & authority
Which safety authority governs you, which edition of the elevator code is actually in force where you work, and where to get permits: every Canadian province & territory plus 26 U.S. states, each entry verified against the authority's own source.
Free reference library
Plain-English references for the trade: codes, company lineage, terminology, and the career path. Every one sourced, with a last-verified date so you know it's current.
Which code applies
Which edition governs the work, where the rules come from, and how the provinces differ.
The A17 Family Tree
How A17.1, CSA B44, and A17.2 to A17.8 actually fit together, plus the code that keeps getting confused for one of them.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026 FeaturedBC's Elevator Code Adoption Timeline
Every edition BC has published, adopted, or skipped, from CAN/CSA-B44-94 to today’s B44-16. One timeline, every regulation linked.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026 FeaturedSSPI in British Columbia: when did it actually start applying?
Every BC code adoption on one timeline: when the step/skirt test became law, the later date the regulator gave, and the one clause that settles it.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Ontario's Elevator Code Adoption Timeline
Every edition Ontario has adopted since 1954, when each one actually started binding, and why an Ontario adoption usually has two dates.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Ontario's elevator outage reporting law
The only public register of elevator outages we have found in Canada: when the duty really started, who owes it, which of the fourteen reported items are published, and the repair deadline Ontario has never actually had.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Alberta’s Elevator Code Timeline
Every edition Alberta has adopted since 2003, the edition it refused outright, and why two editions’ worth of change land on a single day in 2027.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026BC vs Ontario vs Alberta: three provinces, three elevator codes
Ontario and Alberta are on the same edition right now. British Columbia is on one neither has ever adopted. When all three matched, and why it keeps not lasting.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Your MCP and your CAT tests
What a written Maintenance Control Program has to contain, the records and tags that prove it, what CAT 1, CAT 3 and CAT 5 each cover, and why your regulator, not the code book, decides how often they happen.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Who’s who in the industry
The numbers, the manufacturers, the associations and the unions: how big the trade is, who is in it and how to reach them.
Elevators in Canada, by the Numbers
How many devices each province regulates, how often they hurt someone, and what inspectors keep finding. Every figure from a published report, with a link.
Look it up → Last verified: 4 October 2026The OEM Family Tree
Otis, KONE, Schindler, TK Elevator, Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitec, and where Dover, Montgomery, Haughton, Westinghouse and Armor actually ended up.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Who's who: Industry Associations & Acronyms
The industry’s associations and acronyms, explained in plain English.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Canadian IUEC Locals: Contact Directory
Every IUEC local in Canada with business address, phone, and email. Plus how Quebec, Yukon, PEI, and the North actually work.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Learning the trade
Terminology, and how the career path actually works in Canada.
Elevator & Escalator Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms you'll actually hear on the job, plus every industry association & acronym, searchable.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026 FeaturedHow to Become an Elevator Mechanic in Canada
Apprenticeship hours, union vs. non-union entry, provincial licensing in every province and territory, and recertification cycles. Sourced, not a recruiting pitch.
Look it up → Last verified: 26 September 2026Spot something wrong in a reference? Tell us on the forum →
Off-site links
Governing bodies, code publishers, and trade associations across Canada and the US, plus a couple of independent tools built on public records. The official sources are marked as such, and where a link is somebody else’s project rather than the authority, it says so.
Permits, licensing, inspections, and the code your province has adopted.
The safety-authority body, and the code books themselves.
The trade union and its apprenticeship and education program.
Independent projects, not authorities. Both are built from public records and are worth knowing about, but the authority’s own page is still the last word.
A few tools worth knowing about if you work the trade.
-
Escalator Field Command
Our app: maintenance routes, CAT1 testing, and the Field Guide, all on-device.
-
PullSheet
AI troubleshooting and safety checklists for elevator techs, built by a working mechanic.
In the US, elevator rules are set state by state. Start with your state elevator board, or NAESA above for the inspector side. Know a link we should add or fix? Tell us on the forum →