Alexander Luzula | Staff Writer
FIU’s parking garage elevators are finally certified as safe, with new safety certificates going up after being out of date for several months, some being out of date for over a year.
Nikia Maxwell, a representative from the Miami-Dade County Office of Elevator Safety confirmed that the safety certificates were issued in the fall of 2022 and were sent out in December.
However, it was not until the elevators were examined during their yearly inspection in March that the new certificates were finally allowed to be displayed.
Further inspection of county records reveals several of the elevators were rejected during prior inspections, but were still permitted to run as the violations did not interfere with day-to-day operations.
“Depending on the violations, an elevator can still be running,” said Maxwell.
Student Government addressed the issue in a meeting weeks ago, with President Cristhofer Lugo confirming the elevators were inspected and certified as being safe months ago, and it was simply a matter of waiting for the Maintenance Department to get the certificates installed.
FIU students are relieved that progress has been made in maintaining these elevators, but are concerned about how they were able to continue service without being updated.
“It makes me feel a little at ease, but the fact that there was such a gap between certificates makes me a bit concerned,” said FIU student Nathaniel Rodriguez. “If something had been wrong since the last inspection, there was a good amount of time where something could have gone wrong.”
According to the County Office of Elevator Safety, the onus of installing the new certificates fell on Gregory Burdine-Coakley, assistant director of the Department of Facilities Management. Burdine-Coakley was unavailable for comment after several attempts to reach out.
The elevator safety certificates are currently valid until July of 2023, meaning the current certificates will only be valid for about four months, and raises the question of whether it will take as long to get the new ones installed in the future.
Opinion, Student Thoughts
Opinion, Student Thoughts
Entertainment
Campus Life!, Entertainment
Your email address will not be published.
*
*
FIU Student Media includes PantherNOW Magazine and PantherNOW.com, which are edited and produced by students at FIU.
We publish every Wednesday during the regular academic year. We also publish daily online content.
The Roar (WRGP) is the student-run radio station, which operates 24 /7 on 95.3 in Miami, 96.9 in North Miami and 88.1 in Kendall/Homestead area.
©2016 FIU Student Media