Mr. T asked, the uninvited guest claiming to be a maintenance worker came to check the elevator. This person wore a mask, did not wear the uniform of the maintenance unit, nor did he call to notify his family in advance, but arbitrarily broke into the house. Realizing that this person was not a familiar maintenance worker, Mr. T invited this person out and immediately called the unit that currently has a contract to maintain his elevator. He said that his elevator is operating normally and nothing happened to his family yet. However, the family was a bit shocked when a stranger entered the house.

The elevator guiderail lost its screws but was not added due to the negligence of the maintenance staff (illustration image)

Talking to reporter of Elevator Magazine, Mr. T said that in 2018 his family bought a high-end elevator from a reputable elevator supply company in Hanoi. Immediately after the installation, he signed a maintenance contract with the same company that has provided the elevator up until now. Over the past 2 years, the maintenance staff of this company has regularly maintained his elevator once every 2 months and so far the elevator is still working very well. After the incident, Mr. T suggested to the maintenance unit that next time only the technical staff that he knew by name Kham came to maintain his elevator (He said the technician worked very well for more than 2 years and his family has known this person since he used the elevator until now). He also confirmed that he did not invite any other maintenance units and that his family did not know the person claiming to be an elevator maintenance worker who broke into his home on December 14.

At the meeting between reporter of Elevator Magazine and the maintenance unit, the representative of the unit said that the company had a unified set of standards for maintenance work for maintenance technical staff. This set of standards is very strict, specific and detailed, uniform, which orients technical staff to standards in dealing with customers. One of the regulations is that after making a detailed work plan, the technical staff must contact the customer by phone at least 1 day before the scheduled work and make appointment with the customer, then technical staff come to maintain.

Especially in the case of personnel change (due to changing work groups or employees ending the labor contract), the maintenance unit will send a dispatch to the customer clearly stating the reason, personnel replace and commit to the management principle of “Change for the better”, without affecting the service quality and the technical regulations and standards of the elevator.

The representative of the maintenance unit also shared, to ensure the safety of customers, the company has contacted and sent notices to each customer about the principle when the company’s employees come to maintain the elevator. Accordingly, when employees come to work, they must present a valid employee card and have a QR code to compare information with citizen identification or identity card and in standard uniform to enter, (including even technicians who are familiar).

In Section 4.3.1 of Circular No. 15/2018/TTBLDTBXH National technical regulation on occupational safety for home lift with the symbol QCVN 32:2018/BLDTBXH issued on October 12, 2018, there are strict requirements for the unit that installs, calibrates, maintains and repairs elevators. Accordingly, these units must have the legal status and be granted business registration by the competent authority to operate in this field according to the provisions of law. Technical staff and workers performing the installation, adjustment, maintenance and repair must be professionally trained in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Vocational Education and trained in occupational safety and health according to the provisions of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health and guiding documents.

Maintenance technicians must wear valid employee identification cards and have QR codes, standard uniforms of maintenance units and specialized protective equipment.

In fact, maintenance staff work in an enclosed space, customers do not have technical knowledge, making it very difficult to monitor their work as well as the condition of the elevator before and after maintenance. Therefore, it is not excluded that there are bad technical staff who take advantage of their work to exchange components, falsely declare items that must be replaced or repaired… As a result, customers suffer the most if any. When an incident occurs, in many cases the damage cannot be measured in money. Therefore, choosing a reputable maintenance unit, with a long history of operation, with an address, transparent and clear information will be the right and safest choice for customers.

In the specific case that a stranger broke into Mr. T’s house to suggest maintenance of the elevator as on the morning of December 14, it can be preliminary determined that it is a technical staff of a certain unit that competes unfairly. It is also possible that it is a fraud, using an excuse to break into people’s houses with bad intentions. In that situation, customers should calmly contact the nearest maintenance unit or police to clarify the matter. For maintenance units, customers need to ask technical staff to have a plan in advance, technical staff with clear identities, to wear the uniform of the maintenance unit including the employee card and other protective equipment..

Read the next article at: Lesson 2: Need to closely monitor maintenance work