Avoiding Elevator Accidents: Strategies for Building Owners and Managers

Elevators in commercial and residential buildings are designed to operate safely, yet accidents can still happen. If you are a building owner or manager, it is your responsibility to make sure that accidents are avoided, and that the people who rely on the vertical transportation equipment in your commercial, industrial, or private residential facility can get to their destinations safely, quickly, and reliably.

Injuries to the riding public are thankfully rare, because elevators (properly maintained) are equipped with features that allow them to “fail safely”- that is, to shut down in a manner that keeps riders safe while they are inside or outside of the elevator cab itself. But being stuck in an elevator is stressful for riders, and unanticipated trouble calls or shutdowns can be a headache for you, so you need to take proactive steps to prevent them.

Below we’ll highlight some of the most common causes of elevator accidents today, as well as the best ways you as a building owner or manager can minimize their impact to your vertical transportation systems.

OLDER ELEVATORS IN NEED OF MODERNIZATION

Old, outdated systems that have not been modernized are a top cause of elevator accidents. If older elevator units are not properly maintained or updated, you are at risk of an equipment shutdown at best – or an injury to a passenger, at worst.

Think about it – all types of machinery, including cars, computers, and kitchen appliances – have a lifespan. Elevators don’t often need to be completely replaced, but their internal systems need to be periodically brought up to speed. As a general rule, if your elevator is an older model (particularly 20+ years), you should consider modernizing your system to ensure the safest and most efficient ride for your passengers.

The most common signs that an elevator upgrade is needed include: 1) Unreliable service; 2) Frequent shutdowns or entrapments; 3) Code violations; 4) Excessive wear; 5) Inability to acquire replacement parts; 6) Excessive energy consumption.

Modernizing your traction elevator system with an energy-efficient regenerative drive will increase its energy efficiency and reduce its energy consumption. The tallest office building in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada recently underwent an overhaul of its 30-year-old elevators which included the installation of sustainable regenerative drives; you can read about that project here.

LEVELING ISSUES

When the elevator comes to a stop at a floor in your building, the floor of the elevator cab should always be even with the floor of the building. Improper leveling is another common issue that could lead to accidents. ASME building code regulations mandate that elevators should always be properly level within the appropriate tolerance to avoid a significant tripping hazard for people stepping in and out of the elevator.

PROBLEMS WITH ELEVATOR DOORS

While a variety of factors could contribute toward a problem with an older elevator, one common issue elevator technicians see is related to “safe edges”. A safe edge is a mechanical retracting device that prevents the elevator doors from closing on a passenger. If the safe edges on your older elevator’s doors fail, the doors may not reopen, trapping passengers and necessitating an unplanned service call to your elevator company.

Modern elevator systems use an infrared alternative called a door screen. These devices are invisible beams that when “broken” communicate to the elevator controller system that someone has approached the car threshold, allowing passengers to get on and off the elevator safely without the risk of being hit by the door. Upgrading a door with a safe edge system to a door screen system can save you time and money in the long run.

Building code requires both a maximum and a minimum force for when elevator doors are closing. It’s important to include regular maintenance of doors in your Maintenance Control Program (MCP) to avoid a door screen failure. In these instances, the doors may strike the passenger(s), possibly causing injury. This potential outcome is of specific concern/consideration in nursing homes, where riders may be less mobile or agile in movement.

Common causes of door screen failures include dirty screens and general abuse (such as when loading an elevator with a cart/dolly that knocks into the door screen) of the unit itself. If you as a building owner and or manager observe any type of failures with the doors, call your elevator company for immediate repairs. As with all aspects of your elevator unit, it’s imperative to stay as up-to-date as possible on maintenance.

LACK OF BARRICADES

The intention of barricades is to clearly mark an area where construction or maintenance is taking place, as well as to prevent people from entering an active work area. Barricades not only keep the public safe, but the maintenance personnel that are working on the unit, too.

It’s especially important for barricades to be installed properly around your elevator and escalator equipment, because a lack of barricades could involve the potential for falls down the hoistway or into an escalator well during ongoing installation or maintenance work. An unsuspecting individual could enter the area unknowingly and have a catastrophic accident.

Barricades are a simple, preventative, low-cost measure that should never be neglected.

SUDDEN STOPS

If you’ve ever been riding in an elevator and it comes to an abrupt stop, this may mean there is a wear-and-tear maintenance issue with your conveyance; when this happens, it activates fail-safe measures to shut off the power to the unit and immediately stop the elevator from traveling up or down the hoistway. However, because it stops so abruptly in this scenario, it can create a brief sensation of falling (even though it is NOT falling!). This can understandably cause alarm, confusion, or concern on the part of passengers.

The best way to mitigate this potential situation – as well as to avoid any of the other accidents described earlier in this article – is to work with your elevator company to set up a proactive Maintenance Control Program (MCP) for your building.

HOW A MAINTENANCE CONTROL PROGRAM (MCP) CAN HELP

An MCP is a documented set of maintenance tasks, maintenance procedures, examinations, and tests to ensure that the equipment runs smoothly and is maintained in compliance with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the National Electric Code (NEC), and other building code requirements for your specific jurisdiction.

A Maintenance Control Program (MCP) is absolutely necessary for the ongoing reliability and safety of your elevator(s). It would include (but not be limited to) scheduled inspection and routine maintenance of the following:

Ropes/belts or hydraulics
Doors
Brakes
Sheaves
Roller guides
Lighting
Pushbuttons
Phone / 2-way communication device
Stop switches
Inspection switches

Ultimately, think of an MCP as a blueprint – a manufacturer’s recommendation for properly maintaining your equipment. It also serves as a record of everything that has been done to the conveyance, including inspection and testing.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HIRING HIGHLY-TRAINED MECHANICS

As building owners/managers, the importance of hiring the best trained elevator professionals to ensure the ongoing safety of your passengers cannot be overstated. When you partner with an IUEC-affiliated elevator company, you have the security of knowing that the people working on your equipment have been through the most respected education program in the elevator industry.

The National Elevator Industry Educational Program (NEIEP) requires all IUEC elevator constructor apprentices to complete eight semesters of college-level training with hands-on lab equipment, log 8,000 hours of work supervised by an experienced mechanic, and pass a capstone mechanic exam to achieve journeyman status.

CONCLUSION

While common elevator accidents range in degrees of severity and implications, each impacts the same thing: the safety of your passengers and the reliability of your equipment.

So, what should building owners and managers be on the lookout for? Below are some practical steps and solutions that you can take to ultimately prevent elevator accidents for you and your employees, customers, tenants, students, residents, patients, and guests:

Deliberate, careful design and installation. Use great care when planning for the design and installation of your building’s elevator(s). Choosing companies with a reputation for quality and excellence – specifically IUEC signatory companies – will set you up for success for years to come.
Ask your elevator company to set up a Maintenance Control Program (MCP) for your building or facility. An MCP delineates the maintenance tasks your elevator company will perform on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly) in accordance with your elevator equipment manufacturer’s specifications. This will increase your equipment’s lifespan and greatly reduce the possibility of unanticipated shutdowns.
Choose companies that employ trained elevator constructors. This cannot be overstated. Building owners and managers must ensure that the people who are working on their sensitive, high-tech equipment have the advanced training needed to do the job right. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to only hire IUEC signatory elevator companies.
Encourage proactive regulation. Building owners should seek out opportunities to engage with local city/state legislatures and regulators to ensure proper inspections, testing, education, and everything impacting the elevator industry gets properly codified when it comes to their conveyance systems. Visit the Elevator Industry Work Preservation Fund website to learn more about regulations in your area.
If you see (or hear) something, say something. If something seems off, call your elevator maintenance company. Strange noises, unusually long wait times, or reports of elevators stopping at the wrong floors should always be checked out. Reports of poor-quality rides or erratic door operation are also signs that maintenance should be prioritized.
Respond quickly if accidents happen. If an accident happens, assess the situation. If necessary, call your local emergency services first, and then report it to your elevator maintenance company. If there is an entrapment, call your elevator company and then find where in the building the elevator has stopped in order to speak directly with the trapped occupants. Tell them to stay calm, reassure them that help is on the way, and point out that there is plenty of ventilation. Under no circumstances should they try to escape themselves – there’s a high risk of injury if they do, and if a stopped system starts up again unexpectedly, it could lead to a tragedy. It is always much safer to remain inside the elevator until help arrives.

At the end of the day, as the owner or manager of a building or facility equipped with vertical transportation equipment, the safety of your building’s passengers is your highest priority. Knowing how to prevent common elevator accidents and minimize their impact if they should occur is key to establishing a safe, efficient, and reliable experience for the riding public.