Wind Turbine Elevator Committee Meeting

Jul 1, 2015|Events|John W. Koshak

John W. Koshak
Jul 1, 2015

Nice weather facilitated a sunny outdoor lunch for (l-r) John Rearick, Ricia Sturgeon-Hendrick, Carisa Barrett, Matthew Gerson, T.Bruce MacKinnon and Kamay Matharu. All are committee members except Elevator World executives Sturgeon-Hendrick and MacKinnon.

Progress made on new global standard at Elevator World.

photos by Lee Freeland

The ASME A17 Wind Turbine Elevator (WTE) Committee met at the Mobile, Alabama, headquarters of Elevator World, Inc. on May 5-6. Members were given a tour of the facilities. Most had never seen how a magazine is created and the talent required, but all were impressed with the staff, facilities and hospitality afforded us.

The committee agenda was full of comments returned on a letter ballot on converting ASME A17.1-2013/CSA B44-13 Section 5.11 into a new A17.8 standard. The purpose is to ensure a design, maintenance and inspection document for the global marketplace of WTEs. Currently, there is no related standard, except in the aforementioned section. Global manufacturers would have to purchase that large code, of which the vast majority would not apply. Thus, they asked for a global document dedicated to WTEs. When the question was raised to the A17 Standards Committee, the action was to move forward with the new standard, charging the WTE Committee with its development.

Members of the committee include WTE manufacturers, such as Avanti Wind Systems, Power Climber Wind, Tractel, Goracon, Hailo, Goian and Skyman. On the elevator side, we are rich in elevator-industry talent. Your author encourages anyone in the industry to join the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) National Interest Review Group. As an industry member, your expertise is vital when making codes. Members receive all the ballots of code changes and can provide commentary back to the A17 committee for consideration, all electronically.

Committee work is rewarding and never done; we will meet again and put safety to paper where we can. Hopefully, there will be another meeting in Mobile at Elevator World, where a dinner at Felix’s Fish Camp will again await.

John W. Koshak

John W. Koshak is head and founder of Elevator Safety Solutions, Inc., and a member of Elevator World, Inc.’s Board of Directors and Technical Advisory Group. He is also current president of the International Association of Elevator Consultants. Directly prior to reactivating his company in September 2008, Koshak served as director of Codes and Standards for North America for thyssenkrupp Elevator. He was formerly in research at thyssenkrupp Research, Innovation and Design. Koshak got his start in the industry in 1980 at Westinghouse Elevator Co. and has worked for Dover Elevator, Amtech Elevator and Adams Elevator Equipment Co., where he was vice president of Technical Support. He was a National Elevator Industry Educational Program instructor from 1982 to 1991, designed the LifeJacket hydraulic-elevator safety and holds several patents for elevator-component designs. Koshak is a member of the ASME A17 Standards Committee and a past chairman of the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation.