The B.C. Safety Authority has asked the 亚洲天堂 Lake Thrift Shop to remove a dumbwaiter recently installed at the site after a safety officer considered it unsafe.
The freight elevator would connect the Thrift Shop鈥檚 new basement to the main floor, sparing the volunteers - whose average age is 75 - from carrying boxes up and down the stairs.
The dumbwaiter was built and donated by local resident George Hamp, a retired building contractor. He said it took him about a week to build it and that it cost him about $1000.
He says that even though he鈥檚 read the B.C. Safety Authority鈥檚 report, he still doesn鈥檛 understand why the lift was deemed unsafe.
鈥淎s far as I鈥檓 concerned, there鈥檚 no safety issue there,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a fire door on the top entry and a fire door on the bottom entry. You can鈥檛 ride on it, it鈥檚 too small to ride on it. The fire door has to be closed and locked before the elevator will work.鈥�
Hamp believes this might be a case of 鈥済overnment over-regulation.鈥�
鈥淚f this is a safety issue, do you think it鈥檚 safer for 75-year-old gals to be packing boxes up and down?鈥�
In B.C., all active elevating devices - elevators, material lifts, dumbwaiters, escalators and moving walks - are considered regulated equipment under the Safety Standards Act and the Elevating Devices Safety Regulation. As a result, these items are required to have a design registration, acceptance inspection and operating permit in place, as well as a maintenance contract in place with a licensed contractor.
According to the B.C. Safety Authority, a safety officer inspected the Thrift Shop dumbwaiter and discovered it was not compliant with these regulations.
鈥淭he unit was not installed by an individual with the necessary qualifications to do the work; that is, a licensed elevating device contractor or a certified elevating device mechanic employed by a licensed elevating device contractor,鈥� explained Roy Siojo, a spokesperson for the B.C. Safety Authority.
鈥淭he unit was installed without the required installation permit,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭his also indicates that the unit did not undergo the required acceptance inspection.鈥�
鈥淓levating devices are complex pieces of equipment and they should be installed only by people with the proper qualifications,鈥� he added. 鈥淓ven if an elevating device is not intended to hold people, there is potential concern around public safety.鈥�
The 亚洲天堂 Lake and District Healthcare Auxiliary, the group that runs the 亚洲天堂 Lake Thrift Shop, said they had 鈥渘o comments at this time.鈥�
The Thrift Shop recently underwent a major renovation, adding 1120 square feet and a basement to the back of the Fourth Avenue building to increase its capacity to store community donations, which have been progressively increasing over the past five years. Although the Thrift Shop has more shelf space now, volunteers say there鈥檚 still not enough room to display all the items that they receive. The renovation cost roughly $390,000, which is $40,000 more than what was originally expected.
