North Carolina Eliminates Elevator Inspection Backlog

North Carolina Labor Commissioner Luke Farley has announced that the Department of Labor (DoL) has fully eliminated the state’s elevator inspection backlog — achieving a major public-safety milestone in less than one year. For the first time in the history of the North Carolina DoL, there are zero elevators in the state overdue for inspection. Before Farley took office, the backlog reached a peak of 20%, meaning as many as one in every five elevators were not inspected each year. The Department conducted a top-to-bottom review of its internal operations, identified inefficiencies and implemented targeted improvements to how inspections were scheduled, tracked and completed. Through stronger management practices, better coordination and a renewed focus on customer service and accountability, the Department was able to increase inspection efficiency without adding new costs to taxpayers. Additionally, Farley worked with the General Assembly to pass the Make Elevators Great Again Act into law that ensured the Department had the resources needed to support these internal reforms. As of the end of December, 32,527 elevators across North Carolina were inspected within the past year — an increase of 5,088 inspections over the prior year — marking the highest level of compliance and operational efficiency in the Department’s history.