To assist elevator owners, contractors and other industry professionals, the Oklahoma Department of Labor is holding a series of two-hour public seminars across the state focusing on the newly enacted Oklahoma Emergency Elevator Safety Rules. The law addresses the licensing of contractors, mechanics and inspectors, as well as the inspection of all elevators and conveyances designed to transport people, including freight elevators, cargo elevators and wheelchair lifts. For more information, contact the Oklahoma Department of Labor at website: www.labor.ok.gov.

Aker Yards recently awarded a contract to KONE Corp. to design, supply and install 41 elevators for a new cruise ship. The ship will be the first of a new type being developed under the project name "Genesis" for Royal Caribbean International. KONE will design the elevators around its EcoDisc® machinery. The elevators are to be delivered in autumn 2009. The ship, which will have a capacity for 5,400 passengers, is expected to be delivered later that year.

GlobeSt.com recently reported on plans for a 500,000-square-foot hospital to be built in the Boston area. The project is a joint venture of Tufts-New England Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital. If built, the medical facility would be the first new hospital built in Massachusetts in more than 25 years. While the hospital is expected to be located in the suburbs of Boston, the site of the proposed medical facility has not been announced.