Government is revamping its system of inspecting public elevators in response to a story in The Royal Gazette which highlighted widespread infractions of the law.

"We're going to see if we can come up with a good way of ensuring that the inspections get done on a regular basis,'' assistant Planning Director Mrs.

Aideen Ratteray Pryse said yesterday.

Of 32 buildings with public elevators recently inspected by The Royal Gazette , only five contained current permits, which are required under the Building Authority Act 1962 and are valid for one year after a Government inspection.

The front page story in Monday's newspaper said lifts in 12 of the buildings displayed no permits.

And of the 20 permits that were displayed, 15 were expired -- seven of them by five to eight years.

At the time, Mrs. Ratteray Pryse said that under the law it was up to the occupiers of the building to call Planning and schedule an inspection. It was not up to Government to make sure safety checks on the elevators were done.

Government officials stressed there was no safety concern, since private elevator companies would regularly check the lifts under maintenance contracts with the buildings' owners.

Still, Mrs. Ratteray Pryse said the Government inspections and permit system represented an important public check on the private sector.

And it was an "unfortunate'' fact that a member of the public had no way of knowing if an elevator had been recently inspected unless it carried a valid permit in its car.

Yesterday, she said the article had resulted in a large number of requests for inspections from owners and occupiers of Hamilton office buildings. Some called to say their elevators had been inspected but they had not received their permits.

"One interesting thing has come up,'' she said. "One of the inspectors said people don't want to put the cards in the elevator because they are perceived as not having an upscale design.'' In some lushly panelled office buildings, the permits are seen as "tacky,'' and "people don't want to spoil the interiors of their elevators by having the cards up.'' The story had also shown up weaknesses in the law which could result in changes to the Building Authority (Elevators and Lifts) Regulations 1962, which come under the Building Authority Act, she said.

For instance, the regulations say it is the responsibility of the occupiers of the building to make sure the elevator is inspected, but many office buildings have multiple tenants.

"It's probably more appropriate to have the owner responsible,'' she said, adding: "We're looking at the whole scope of elevator inspections.'' A meeting would be held next week with representatives of Bermuda's two private companies that inspect elevators -- Otis Elevator Co. and Bermuda Elevator Systems Ltd. (A.F. Smith) -- to see how inspections could be better coordinated.

When a Government electrical inspector checks an elevator, the mechanic from the private maintenance company needs to be present to answer questions and produce a maintenance log, she said.

Meanwhile, a woman who says she tripped and hurt herself while trying to board the elevator at the General Post Office has made a claim against Government.

Elevator inspections revamped Mrs. Joyce Hayden contacted The Royal Gazette after reading Monday's story.

As she tried to board the elevator in the main Post Office on June 12, Mrs.

Hayden said she tripped and sprained her right knee because the car stopped six inches above the level of the floor.

"I was shook up,'' Mrs. Hayden said. "I felt like a train had run over me.

"I'm still getting therapy,'' she said. "I have put them on notice that there was an injury.'' Other workers in the Post Office building have told her the elevator frequently has problems, she said.

She first wrote to the Post Office but received a letter back saying the elevator was not the responsibility of the Post Office. Mrs. Hayden's letter was referred to the Ministry of Works & Engineering and the Attorney General's Chambers, the letter said.

Mrs. Hayden put no dollar value on her claim. She was not sure whether the elevator car displayed a permit, as required under the Building Authority Act 1962.

In The Royal Gazette survey, the elevator in the General Post Office was among those which contained no permit. Mrs. Ratteray Pryse said it was missing while a new permit was made up and has since been replaced.

The Ministry official who was handling Mrs. Hayden's claim could not be reached yesterday.