Testing of the new fire safety equipment in the residence hall elevators will begin next week.

Work is being done so the elevators in Stevenson and Grant Towers will comply with the American National Standards Institute Code 17.2, which allows access to emergency workers in emergency or fire situations, according to Elevator Repair Foreman Rich Mayer.

“Emergency personnel have to have elevators available for them to do their work,” Mayer said. “(Code 17.2) is a law so they can take control of the elevator and get to the floor without the interference of the general public.”

James Harder, vice president of Business and Operations, said about 75 percent of the work was completed as of Mar. 31.

“They’re moving along fairly well,” Harder said.

Mayer said there is only minor wiring work left to do and then system testing will begin.

“We will spend three or four days testing the project,” Mayer said. “We’ll test one tower at a time and see how the elevator reacts in emergency situations. Any errors we find at that time will be rectified.”

Mayer said the testing should present limited inconveniences for the residents.

“We’ll test in some logical pattern,” Mayer said. “It will be a minor disturbance.”

Mayer said the elevator breakdowns are not related to the safety work being done.

“The problems are inherent of the equipment,” Mayer said. “It’s been there since the 60s.

“The dorm elevators get a lot of use through normal wear and we repair problems as they occur,” he said.