Get the appThe A17 Family Tree
A17.1 isn't the whole elevator code — it's just the trunk. Here's how A17.2 through A17.7 and CSA B44 branch off it, plus the one code people often mistake for a sibling.
Everything that branches off A17.1
"The elevator code" is really a family of documents. A17.1 (harmonized with Canada's CSA B44) is the core rulebook — the rest are either specialized guides that support it, or separate documents jurisdictions can adopt on their own.
The core rulebook — design, construction, installation, testing, maintenance. This is the one every province and state actually adopts into law, and the one every other book below relates back to.
How inspectors actually test what A17.1 requires — methods, sequence, and what to flag.
Retrofit rules for equipment installed under an older code that was never required to meet current A17.1.
How rescue crews safely evacuate passengers from a stuck car.
The detailed electrical and controller rulebook A17.1 points to.
Wire-rope and governor material, testing, and replacement criteria.
A route for genuinely new equipment that doesn't fit A17.1's prescriptive rules — prove it's safe, not just compliant.
Governs wheelchair platform lifts and stairway chairlifts. It sounds like an A17 sibling and covers adjacent equipment — but it's written by an entirely separate ASME committee (A18, not A17). This equipment used to live inside A17.1 itself (Parts 20 & 21) until it split off into its own standard in 1999. Worth knowing so you're not hunting for it inside A17.1.
The harmonization timeline
The US and Canada didn't always share a codebook. This is how A17.1 and CSA B44 became (almost) the same document.
2013 → 2025: a steady 3-year revision cycle, published jointly every time.
Worth knowing
The book name matters less than the edition
"CSA B44" alone doesn't tell you what's enforceable — B44-2013 and B44-19 are meaningfully different rulebooks. What matters on the job is which edition your province or state has actually adopted.
A17.3 quietly does the most work on old buildings
Most equipment in service was installed under an earlier edition of A17.1. A17.3 — not A17.1 — is usually what determines what an existing, older elevator actually has to be upgraded to meet.
Need the exact edition in force where you work? Our province-by-province lookup already covers BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC.
Find your province →Keep the family tree in your pocket
For code reference you can search offline on the job, check out Escalator Field Command's Field Guide.
