California Code of Regulations
Title 8 - Industrial Relations
Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations
Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety
Subchapter 6 - Elevator Safety Orders
Group I - Administrative Regulations
Article 4 - Qualifications for Certified Inspectors
Section 3003 - Qualifications for Certified Inspectors

(a) Employment. Applicants shall be employed by a licensed insurance company carrying insurance on elevators or by a municipality which maintains an elevator inspection organization operating under ordinances or rules at least equivalent to the Elevator Safety Orders of the Division of Industrial Safety.

Applicants may be examined prior to their employment if sponsored by an insurance company or a municipality by an agreement to employ the candidate if he is successful in the examination. However, no certificate will be issued until the applicant is actually employed as an elevator inspector.

(b) Experience. Applicants shall have had at least four years of experience in some mechanical or electrical endeavor at least one year of which shall have been in the design, construction, installation, repair or inspection of elevators.

The nonelevator, mechanical, or electrical experience shall be at the journeyman mechanic level or technical work and the work must have been comparable to work in the elevator industry.

Engineering education on a college level may be substituted on a year-for-year basis for the nonelevator qualifying experience.

The one year of required elevator experience may be on the basis of continuous employment for one year in which at least half of the applicant's time is devoted to elevator work.

(c) Training. Immediately prior to the examination, the candidate shall have completed at least 90 days of intensive training in elevator inspection in California under the direct supervision of a certified elevator inspector.

This training period may be waived prior to the written examination; provided, however, that no certificate shall be issued until the candidate has been employed and satisfactorily completed the prescribed training period.

(d) Performance of Duties. A candidate shall be of good character, free from disabling defects, and possessing sufficient agility to perform his duties safely and efficiently.

(e) Certificates. Certificates of competency may be revoked by the division, after a hearing, for failure to submit true reports concerning the condition of an elevator, or for conduct deemed by the division to be contrary to the best interests of elevator safety or of the division.

Certificates may also be revoked, after a hearing, when physical infirmities develop to a point where it appears that an inspector can no longer perform his duties in a thorough and safe manner.

Certificates may be suspended by the division, after a hearing, for periods up to six months for infractions not deemed serious enough to revoke the certificate.

(f) Frequency of Inspection. Certificates will be automatically suspended if, for a period of one year, an inspector does not make any elevator inspections as evidenced by reports submitted; however, such certificates may be reinstated without a written examination at the discretion of the division.

This provision does not apply to the supervising engineers or others whose regular duties include the review of the work of other certified inspectors.

(g) Examination. The examination shall be conducted in two parts; the first consisting of a written examination and the second consisting of a field examination.

If the applicant fails to obtain a passing grade in either the written or field examination, he may apply for a re-examination and the waiting period between examinations shall be determined by the division as not less than 30 days or more than 6 months, depending on the judgment of the division regarding the necessity of additional study and training on the part of the applicant.

The field examination may be waived or postponed by the division and the certificate issued subject to field examination. This field examination may consist of a formal assignment related to elevator inspection or it may consist of an appraisal of work of the inspector during an indefinite probationary period.