Ontario's elevator mechanic apprenticeship under its official name, Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E: the TSSA safety course and EDM-T certificate that must come first, 8,000 hours with 720 hours in school, non-compulsory status, and the TSSA exam instead of a Red Seal.
Applies in: Ontario
In Ontario, an elevator mechanic apprentice registers under the trade name Elevating Devices Mechanic, code 636E, and the route runs through two regulators, not one. First complete the safety training workshop with a TSSA-accredited provider and obtain the EDM-T trainee certificate from the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. Only then register the apprenticeship with Skilled Trades Ontario, work 7,280 hours on the job with a sponsoring elevator company alongside 720 hours of in-school training, and finish with the TSSA professional exam that leads to the EDM-A certificate. There is no Red Seal exam for this trade. The TSSA exam is the gate, and the TSSA certificate is the credential employers ask for by name.
The name causes the first confusion. Job postings say elevator mechanic or elevator constructor. The Ontario apprenticeship system says Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E. They are the same apprenticeship, and the work is wider than the job title suggests: Skilled Trades Ontario describes the trade as constructing, installing, servicing, and maintaining elevating devices including elevators, lifts, and escalators, including inspecting, servicing, and maintaining existing devices, installing new ones, rigging and hoisting, and installing and maintaining control equipment and protective devices.
The second point matters more. Skilled Trades Ontario runs the apprenticeship: registration, the training agreement, the logbook, and the in-school training. TSSA runs the safety certification: the safety workshop, the EDM-T trainee certificate, the skills passport, and the EDM-A certificate at the end. The TSSA guideline is explicit that the steps must be completed in order and that you cannot proceed without completing a prior step. Treat the two systems as one chain with the TSSA steps first, because the apprenticeship registration itself requires the EDM-T certificate.
Attend and complete a safety training workshop conducted by an accredited elevating device safety training provider. TSSA's overview describes the safety training program as 24 hours. Then apply to TSSA for the EDM-T certificate, the Elevating Device Mechanic-in-Training certificate. TSSA's guideline states that it is an offence to work in the elevating devices industry before obtaining an EDM-T, and the trainee certificate is also required before becoming sponsored as an apprentice in this trade. Keep the safety training certificate of completion: TSSA's certification process asks for it when you apply through the TSSA Client Portal.
This step is also where the certificate classes first appear. TSSA offers EDM-A for elevating device mechanics, EDM-B for construction hoist mechanics, EDM-C for owner-operators of elevating device equipment, EDM-D for cab renovations, EDM-E for lifts for persons with physical disabilities, EDM-F for inspectors and consultants, and EDM-T for trainees. The apprenticeship described in this guide leads toward EDM-A. Depending on the job, a mechanic may need certification in more than one class, so do not assume EDM-A covers every class of device or every kind of work.
With the EDM-T certificate in hand, find a sponsoring employer: an elevator construction or maintenance company willing to train you. Skilled Trades Ontario's general registration rules apply: you must be at least 16 years old, have legal permission to work in Canada, meet the education requirements for the trade, and have a sponsor in Ontario. For this trade the chart entry grade is Grade 12. If you are 18 or older, apply online through the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal; if you are 16 or 17, or unable to apply online, complete the paper Application for Apprenticeship Training, signed by you, a parent or guardian if you are under 18, and your sponsor. Once approved, you and your sponsor sign a Training Agreement, which registers you as an apprentice, and you receive a Registered Apprentice Wallet Card.
The sponsor hunt in this trade is narrower than in most. Elevator work in Ontario is concentrated in a small number of large elevator companies and a smaller set of independent firms, and hiring runs in intakes rather than as a steady flow of postings. The Durham College pre-apprenticeship program exists in part because of that concentration: it positions graduates for employment as apprentices. Apply to the companies directly, ask about apprentice intakes, and treat a college program or a related electrical or mechanical credential as a way to stand out in an intake, not as a substitute for the sponsorship itself.
The program totals 8,000 hours: 7,280 hours of on-the-job training and 720 hours of in-school training, recorded as one level in the Skilled Trades Ontario chart. About 80 per cent of an Ontario apprenticeship is paid work on the job and about 20 per cent is classroom learning, according to Skilled Trades Ontario, and the same shape applies here: most of the program is paid work with the sponsoring company, under qualified supervision, with the logbook skills signed off as you demonstrate them. All elevating device mechanics and mechanics-in-training must also hold and maintain a skills passport for the scope of work they perform, which documents the experience and skills gained and is required for certification.
In-school training is delivered through the trade's training providers, and the Durham College route can exempt a graduate from all of the in-school requirements. Do not assume a generic electrical or mechanical college program carries the same exemption: the Durham exemption is specific to its Mechanical Technician, Elevating Devices program, and the current wording should be confirmed on the college page. The TSSA safety training and the skills passport run alongside the apprenticeship throughout, not just at the start.
Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E has a certifying exam, and the chart records it as offered by TSSA rather than by Skilled Trades Ontario. Applicants for the higher certificate classes apply for assessment through the TSSA Client Portal and must meet the mandatory certificate requirements, which include documented work experience verified by employers, a completed skills passport, and transcripts of training through an accredited provider. The EDM-A certificate is the credential that lets a mechanic work on elevating devices without the trainee restriction, and job postings in Ontario routinely require it by name. Because the trade has no Red Seal endorsement, there is no national exam to fall back on: the TSSA certificate, held in good standing, is the credential.
Do not do field work before the EDM-T certificate. The TSSA guideline calls it an offence, and no sponsor can register you as an apprentice without it. Do not register for the wrong TSSA class: EDM-B covers construction hoists, EDM-D covers cab renovations, and EDM-E covers lifts for persons with physical disabilities, and each has its own requirements. Do not assume the non-compulsory classification means uncertified work is permitted on elevating devices; the TSSA certificate requirement is separate from the trade classification and it binds everyone who performs the work. And do not let the skills passport lapse. TSSA requires mechanics and trainees to hold and maintain one for the scope of work they perform, and an undocumented skill is a gap in the certification file, not just a missing line in a logbook.
Elevating Devices Mechanic, trade code 636E. Elevator mechanic is the common name for the same work, and Job Bank uses elevator constructors and mechanics for the occupation. The trade covers more than passenger elevators: Skilled Trades Ontario describes elevating devices mechanics as constructing, installing, servicing, and maintaining elevating devices including elevators, lifts, and escalators. Use code 636E on forms, because the TSSA certificate classes use the elevating devices name as well.
The Skilled Trades Ontario chart records 8,000 hours in total: 7,280 hours of on-the-job training and 720 hours of in-school training, at one level, with Grade 12 as the academic entry grade. Job Bank describes the occupation's route as a four- to five-year apprenticeship program, or a combination of over four years of work experience and some high school, college, or industry courses. The hours are the fixed part; the calendar time depends on how steadily the hours accumulate with a sponsoring elevator company.
Yes, and in that order. The Technical Standards and Safety Authority's own guideline lists the steps in order: attend and complete a safety training workshop conducted by an accredited elevating device safety training provider, then apply for and obtain an EDM-T certificate from TSSA, then register a training agreement for Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E. You must hold a valid EDM-T certificate to be registered as an apprentice, and the guideline states it is an offence to work in the elevating devices industry before obtaining an EDM-T. Do not start field work on a promise that the paperwork will follow.
No, as a Skilled Trades Ontario classification: the chart lists Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E as non-compulsory. That does not mean anyone may work on an elevator. TSSA states that before performing work on an elevating device, a mechanic must obtain one of the TSSA certificates specified in Ontario Regulation 222/01, starting with EDM-T for trainees and rising to EDM-A for a fully qualified mechanic. The trade classification is non-compulsory; the TSSA certificate is the practical gate to touching the equipment. Job Bank's national sentence names certification as compulsory in Quebec and Alberta and voluntary in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and does not name Ontario in that list, which is why the Ontario answer has to come from the STO chart and TSSA together.
No. The Skilled Trades Ontario chart records no Red Seal for Elevating Devices Mechanic 636E, and the certifying exam is listed as yes, offered by TSSA. The gate at the end of the program is the TSSA professional exam, not a Red Seal exam, and the credential it leads to is the TSSA EDM-A certificate. Do not plan on a national endorsement travelling with this trade the way it does for millwrights or plumbers; each province's elevating device licensing is its own system, and this guide does not state portability rules for other provinces because none were verified.
Partly, through one published route. Durham College states that graduates of its Mechanical Technician, Elevating Devices program are eligible for exemption from all of the in-school requirements for the EDM 636E apprenticeship training, and that graduates also receive TSSA-mandated EDM-T safety training certification and meet the Working at Heights training requirement. That is a pre-apprenticeship route into the trade, not a shortcut past the on-the-job hours or the TSSA exam. You still need a sponsor, the 7,280 hours, and the EDM-A exam, and you should confirm the current exemption wording on the college page before enrolling on the strength of it.
Where a figure could not be verified on a Skilled Trades Ontario or TSSA page at the time of writing — any examination fee, any wage figure, and the calendar length of the in-school training — this guide says so and points to the TSSA fee schedule and certification pages instead of carrying a secondary source's figure. Check those pages before you pay anything or plan around a date.