The IUEC has never done anything like this before. On April 28-29, 2026, the International Union of Elevator Constructors will hold its inaugural Global Safety Summit at Paris Las Vegas, the first event of its kind in the union's 125-year history. The two-day summit will bring together elevator constructors, safety professionals, OEM representatives, signatory contractors, inspectors, and regulators from across the vertical transportation industry under a single objective: making elevator and escalator jobsites safer.
The timing is not accidental. The IUEC has achieved more than three consecutive years without a single jobsite fatality among its membership. That is a remarkable number for a trade where mechanics regularly work in hoistways, on top of cars, in pits, and around high-voltage electrical systems. As recently as 2012, the union was losing approximately six members per year to fatal jobsite incidents. The progress since then reflects years of investment in safety training, cultural change within locals, and closer collaboration between labor and management on jobsite conditions. The summit is designed to build on that momentum and extend it globally.
What the Summit Covers
The programming spans keynote presentations and CEU-approved educational sessions built around the real-world safety challenges that elevator constructors face every day. Session topics include hoistway protection requirements, hoarding standards on active construction sites, emerging hazards introduced by new technologies and installation methods, and case studies of how labor-management safety partnerships have driven measurable reductions in injuries and fatalities across multiple countries. OSHA alliance effectiveness and regulatory coordination will also be on the agenda.
An exhibitor hall will run alongside the sessions, giving attendees direct access to safety-focused tools, equipment, and innovations designed for elevator jobsites. For mechanics and apprentices, this is a chance to get hands on products that address the specific hazards of hoistway work, pit access, machine room environments, and escalator maintenance.
Why It Matters for the Field
IUEC General President Frank Christensen has been direct about the stakes. "We can get our members the best wages and benefits, but if they can't go home to their families safe and whole, do those wages and benefits even matter?" he said in a statement published in Elevator World. That framing cuts to the core of why the union is investing in an event of this scale. The summit is not a corporate conference dressed up in safety language. It is a working event organized by the people who represent the mechanics doing the actual work.
Eric McClaskey, the IUEC's Director of Safety, has emphasized that the summit is forward-looking by design. "What we are doing on jobsites now in regard to safety is only part of the equation," McClaskey said. "We need to anticipate what the future of the conveyance industry will look like." That means addressing the safety implications of machine room-less installations, robotic systems entering construction sites, increasingly complex controllers, and the reality that new apprentices are entering a trade that looks fundamentally different from what journeymen learned twenty years ago.
The National Elevator Industry, Inc. (NEII), which represents the major signatory contractors and OEMs, is backing the event through its member companies. NEII Executive Director Amy Blankenbiller said member companies are "looking forward to expanding on the safety goals and initiatives implemented over the past few years." That level of labor-management alignment on safety is significant in an industry where the relationship between the union and the companies has historically been contentious on economic issues. Safety is the one area where both sides consistently find common ground, and this summit formalizes that collaboration.
Who Should Be There
The IUEC is casting a wide net on attendance. The target list includes working elevator mechanics and technicians, apprentices at all levels, elevator inspectors, safety managers at signatory contractors, OEM safety engineers, and regulatory officials from state and local jurisdictions. International participation is expected, with the summit explicitly designed to examine how safety standards are developed, enforced, and shared across different regulatory environments.
For journeymen and apprentices, the CEU-approved sessions are a practical draw. Continuing education credits are increasingly important as more jurisdictions tighten licensing and certification requirements for elevator mechanics. Getting those hours at an event specifically focused on elevator safety, rather than generic construction safety courses, adds real value.
Registration and Logistics
Registration is open now through the official summit website at iuecglobalsafetysummit.com. The event takes place at Paris Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Organizations interested in sponsoring or exhibiting can also inquire through the summit website. For questions, the IUEC's safety department can be reached directly through the registration portal.
The elevator industry does not get many moments where everyone in the supply chain, from the apprentice tying in a hoist cable to the OEM executive setting product roadmaps, sits in the same room to talk about the same thing. April 28-29 is one of those moments. If you work in this trade and safety is something more than a poster on the gang box wall, this is where you should be.