Pennsylvania's New Elevator Code: What Changes in 2026

Pennsylvania has been enforcing the same elevator code since 2004. That changed on June 20, 2026, when the Department of Labor & Industry published its final-form rulemaking, Elevator Safety Standards under the Uniform Construction Code, at 56 Pa.B. 3606. The rulemaking amends 34 Pa. Code Chapters 401 and 405 and adopts ASME A17.1-2016 as the Commonwealth’s elevator safety standard.

Three dates to write down:

• June 20, 2026. The rulemaking published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
• December 20, 2026. The new regulations take effect, 6 months after publication (56 Pa.B. 3606, § 405.1(c)).
• December 20, 2028. Construction on a permit issued under the old regulations must commence by this date, or the permit is rescinded (§ 405.1(c)(1) and (2)).

Here is what the rulemaking actually says, what is grandfathered, and what building owners should be doing about it.

How big a jump is this?

Since Chapter 405 was adopted in 2004, Pennsylvania has enforced ASME A17.1-2000 with the A17.1a-2002 addenda. The preamble calls it what it is: “the outdated standard from 2000 with the 2002 addenda” (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3614).

By ASME’s own edition history, A17.1-2000 was the Sixteenth Edition of the code. A17.1-2016 is the Twenty-First. Pennsylvania is skipping the 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 editions in one move. That is 16 years of code development arriving at once. And for perspective, ASME has kept going: the 2019, 2022 and 2025 editions already exist, so even the “new” code is not the newest.

The rulemaking also updates the companion standards in § 405.2(a.1). Alongside A17.1-2016, Pennsylvania adopts ASME A18.1-2017 for wheelchair and stairway lifts, ASME A17.8-2016 for wind turbine tower elevators, ASME B20.1-2018 for vertical and inclined reciprocating conveyors without automatic transfer devices, ASME A90.1-2015 for belt man-lifts, and ANSI B77.1-2022 for passenger ropeways. Private residence elevators remain outside the adoption (§ 405.2(a.2)).

One thing the department made clear: this is not a straight adoption. Section 405.2(a.1)(1) contains a long list of Pennsylvania-specific modifications to A17.1-2016. Some of the most consequential are covered below.

When does the new code apply to a project?

The dividing line is the permit application date, not the installation date.

If a permit application was made to the Department before December 20, 2026, the old standards continue to apply to that device (§ 405.2(a.5)). There is a separate clock on the permit itself: a permit issued before December 20, 2026 remains valid only if construction commences by December 20, 2028. Miss that window and the permit is rescinded, and a new permit under the new code is required before construction (§ 405.1(c)(1) and (2)).

Any project whose permit application is made on or after December 20, 2026 is designed, installed, inspected and tested to A17.1-2016 as modified by Pennsylvania (§ 405.2(a.1)).

Two related changes worth noting for anyone planning work. Permits now remain valid for no more than 2 years, down from 5 (§ 405.3(d)). And acceptance inspections are now required when a device under alteration or modification is put into service, not just new devices and devices under repair (§ 405.5).

Is existing equipment grandfathered?

For design and construction, yes. An elevator or lifting device with a certificate of operation issued before December 20, 2026 may remain in use if the owner maintains it in accordance with its permit or approval, complied with the regulations in effect when the certificate was issued, and continues to comply with the applicable permit application, periodic inspection, periodic testing and periodic dynamic testing requirements (§ 405.1(c)(3)).

Read that last part again, because it is the catch. The grandfathering covers how your elevator was built. It does not freeze your ongoing obligations. Sections 405.7 through 405.9, the inspection and testing rules, apply to existing equipment under the new regulation. The department says so directly in its fiscal analysis: “The annual Category 1 testing requirements in this regulation apply to all equipment, including existing equipment” (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3615).

And if you alter it, the grandfathering narrows. Major repairs, replacements and alterations performed after the effective date must comply with Sections 8.6.2, 8.6.3 and 8.7 of A17.1-2016 (§ 405.10(a)), the device must come out of service for the work, and it may not return to service until the Department inspects and passes it (§ 405.10(c)).

The headline change: annual Category 1 testing

Under the outgoing rules, Category 1 tests in Pennsylvania ran on 3-year and 5-year cycles depending on equipment type (old § 405.8(a)). Pennsylvania was one of the last jurisdictions in the region on that schedule. The department notes that annual Category 1 testing “brings the Commonwealth into alignment with every neighboring jurisdiction” (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3607).

The new § 405.8(a) requires periodic testing under A17.1-2016 at the intervals in the code’s Table N-1: Category 1 annually, Category 3 every 3 years where it applies, and Category 5 every 5 years, all witnessed by a construction code official (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3623).

Why the department held firm on annual testing, over cost objections raised during the comment period: Category 1 testing specifically considers fire safety issues. The preamble points to “the fire service panel, fire alarm activation system and backup generators” as items where dangerous conditions can sit unnoticed between long test gaps (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3607).

On cost, the department published numbers from its survey of testing companies, framed as high-end estimates: an average of roughly $3,833 per traction elevator and $1,100 per hydraulic elevator per year, across approximately 13,619 traction and 25,157 hydraulic units statewide. The bureau also estimates that about 80% of units are already under maintenance contracts, some of which may already include Category 1 testing (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3615-3616). If yours does, your cost change may be small. If it does not, this is a budget line item for 2027. Check your contract now rather than in December.

The new compliance calendar, by unit type

Here is how the pieces fit together once the new rules take effect. Periodic inspections keep following the § 405.7 intervals, which the rulemaking left unchanged (its § 405.7 amendments touch reporting and seasonal-device mechanics, not the calendar). Periodic testing follows the new § 405.8, which pins elevator test intervals to A17.1-2016 Table N-1 and lift test intervals to A18.1-2017 section 10.3. Every test in this table must be witnessed by a construction code official, and for the A18.1 lifts specifically one certified as a UCC Elevator Inspector (§ 405.8(a) and (c)).

Unit type	Periodic inspection	Category 1 test	Category 3 test	Category 5 test
Traction (electric) elevator	Every 6 months	Annual	None assigned	Every 5 years
Hydraulic elevator	Every 6 months	Annual	Every 3 years, narrow scope (see note)	Every 5 years
Escalator / moving walk	Every 6 months	Annual	None assigned	None assigned
LULA elevator	Every 6 months	Annual	Every 3 years, where assigned	Every 5 years
Dumbwaiter	Every 12 months	Annual	Every 3 years, where assigned	Every 5 years
Wheelchair lift / stairway chairlift	Every 12 months	Annual (A18.1 section 10.3.1)	Every 3 years (10.3.2)	Every 5 years (10.3.3)
Other A17.1 devices (sidewalk, rooftop elevators and more)	6 or 12 months, by device type	Per the device’s Table N-1 row	Per Table N-1	Per Table N-1

A few notes on reading the table:

• The inspection column comes from § 405.7: the fifteen equipment categories listed in subsection (a), including electric and hydraulic elevators, escalators, moving walks and LULA elevators, are inspected at intervals not exceeding 6 months, and all other lifting devices at intervals not exceeding 12 months under subsection (b). Wheelchair lifts, stairway chairlifts and dumbwaiters are not on the 6-month list, so they fall under the 12-month rule.
• The test columns come from the new § 405.8: A17.1-2016 Table N-1 intervals for Category 1, 3 and 5 testing (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3623), which the department describes as annual, 3-year and 5-year (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3614), and the A18.1-2017 intervals in § 405.8(c). The Table N-1 rows for these unit types are unchanged across the 2013 through 2022 editions of A17.1. A18.1 itself does not use Category labels for lifts; the lift row is aligned by interval, following the department’s own Category 1 and Category 3 labels for sections 10.3.1 and 10.3.2.
• Some devices sit outside A17.1’s scope and keep their own § 405.8 test rules instead of Table N-1: lumber elevators are tested with rated load at intervals not exceeding 5 years (§ 405.8(d)), and stage, orchestra and organ lifts, along with vertical reciprocating conveyors with platform safety devices, keep their existing 5-year test cycles (§ 405.8(e) and (f), unchanged).
• Category 3 on a hydraulic elevator covers a narrow set of components, unexposed piston rods on roped water-hydraulic units and pressure vessels (A17.1 requirement 8.6.5.15), so many hydraulic elevators will have no Category 3 item at all.
• Which specific Category 5 tests apply depends on the components installed on the unit. Your inspector can tell you exactly what your equipment needs.
• Private residence elevators and lifts are outside the adoption entirely (§ 405.2(a.2) and (a.4)).

Test weights are staying

Newer editions of A17.1 permit certain tests to be performed without physical test weights, through what the code calls alternative test methodologies (A17.1-2016 requirement 8.6.11.10, in the code since at least the 2013 edition). Pennsylvania looked at that flexibility and declined most of it. The state’s modifications require car and counterweight safeties, oil buffers, driving-machine brakes, and braking and traction systems to be tested with test weights. For those four categories the replaced Category 5 test provision says it flatly: “Alternative test methods are not permitted.” The related alternative-method provisions for car safeties and driving-machine brakes are rewritten to require rated-load test weights (§ 405.2(a.1)(1)(viii)(B) through (D), 56 Pa.B. 3606, 3620). The preamble notes alternative methods remain possible with prior department approval for components not on that list (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3609).

For owners, the practical effect: witnessed, weighted load testing stays the norm in Pennsylvania. The regulation also makes explicit that witnessed testing and approval of elevator safeties, a requirement the department says has governed here for decades, must also occur for existing devices before they are placed back into service (§ 405.4; 56 Pa.B. 3606, 3609).

What modern equipment gains

There is real good news in this rulemaking for anyone specifying new equipment. A17.1-2000 predates most of the technology in a current elevator catalog. The requirements for machine-room-less designs, with machinery spaces and control spaces instead of a traditional machine room, first entered the code through the A17.1S-2005 supplement and live in Section 2.7 of A17.1-2016. Under the old code, the department acknowledged, “building owners and operators are burdened with pursuing the variance process to utilize modern technology” (56 Pa.B. 3606). Starting December 20, 2026, current designs have a direct code path in Pennsylvania.

One Pennsylvania-specific addition owners will actually see: when an elevator’s motor controller sits outside a locked machine room, in a cabinet the public can walk past, A17.1-2016 requires “AGP” (Accessible to General Public) labeling and a warning sign inside the cabinet door (requirement 2.7.6.3.2(e) and (f)). Pennsylvania adds that the signage must also be posted on the outside of the controller, so the closed-and-locked requirement is visible to everyone (§ 405.2(a.1)(1)(ii)(A)).

Other changes worth knowing

• Wheelchair lifts and stairway lifts move to annual testing. Under the outgoing rules, inspection and testing for these devices under ASME A18.1 ran at 5-year intervals across the board (old § 405.8(c)). The new rule adopts A18.1-2017 and, in the department’s words, requires “annual testing under section 10.3.1 (Category 1) and every 3 years under section 10.3.2 (Category 3),” with section 10.3.3 testing staying on a 5-year interval. Each test must be witnessed by a construction code official certified as a UCC Elevator Inspector (§ 405.8(c); 56 Pa.B. 3606, 3614, 3623). For a school, church or municipal building with a platform lift, that is a test cycle five times faster than before. Note the twice-a-year and 12-month periodic inspection cycles in § 405.7 are unchanged; this change is on the testing side.
• Escalator and moving walk safety devices go manual-reset. Skirt obstruction devices, step upthrust devices, handrail entry devices and handrail speed monitors must be of the manual-reset type (§ 405.2(a.1)(1)(vi)). A tripped device stays shut down until it is manually reset. The department’s stated rationale is that a trained mechanic should review the root cause before the unit restarts, instead of a daily automatic reset (56 Pa.B. 3606, 3609, 3613).
• Accident reporting gets broader. Reports are required for accidents resulting in fatal injury or “the necessity for professional medical care,” replacing the old fatal-or-hospitalization trigger. After a nonfatal accident caused by mechanical or electrical failure, the device may not return to operation until the Department approves (§ 405.11).
• Defective parts mean out of service. Where a defective part affecting safety of operation is identified, the equipment comes out of service until it is fixed, and the person who found it must notify the Department (§ 405.2(a.1)(1)(viii)(A), adding to A17.1-2016 requirement 8.6.1.3).
• Fees move to an annual schedule. The fixed dollar amounts written into § 401.2 in 2006 are deleted. Fees will now be updated annually and published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and on the department’s fee schedule page (§ 401.2; 56 Pa.B. 3606, 3617). The currently posted schedule stays in effect in the meantime.
• Variances get a defined process. New § 405.13 puts appeals, variances and extensions of time before the Elevator Safety Board, with a 30-day filing window and a 60-day deemed-approval clock if the Board does not act.

What to do between now and December 20

Nothing here calls for panic. Existing, well-maintained equipment stays in service. But the calendar matters.

If you have a modernization or new installation in planning, decide which side of December 20, 2026 your permit application lands on, deliberately. If you own or manage elevators, pull your maintenance contract and confirm whether Category 1 testing is in scope, because as of the effective date it is an annual requirement in Pennsylvania. And if a project permit is already sitting approved, remember the December 20, 2028 construction deadline.

The Department is also preparing implementation guidance to be issued before the effective date, and it has set up a dedicated inbox for questions about the new regulations, [email protected], per its Elevator Division page.

As always with code: this article describes Pennsylvania’s adoption. Other states are on different editions with different amendments, so if your portfolio crosses state lines, check what applies in each jurisdiction.

RISE performs independent, third-party elevator inspections and witness testing nationwide, with QEI-certified inspectors headquartered right here in Pennsylvania, and we never maintain the equipment we inspect. If you want help sorting out what the new code means for your building or your portfolio, request a free quote or contact us.