Private residence lift accidents

On February 1^st, 2017 there was another private home elevator accident in Little Rock Arkansas.  A 2 year old got trapped underneath a home elevator.  There have been new rules/code items that have come out to prevent some of the recent accidents from occurring. Part of the problem we have with private residence elevators is that they do not need to get inspected after they are installed.  This means once a private home elevator is installed there is no oversight or requirements by any jurisdiction to ensure it is maintained and in safe working order.  There is no direct way for the homeowner to be made aware of new mandates, safety items, or regulations that could improve the level of safety of the home elevator.

I have made a time table of a typical home with a private residence lift

Day 1 - Private residence elevator is installed

Day 2 - Private residence elevator is inspected

4 years later - Home is sold

Company who installed lift goes out of business or is sold

10 years later - Home is sold

Manufacturer who sold the lift to the elevator company is out of business or sold

3 year later – Home is sold

It has been the responsibility of the manufacturer and installing company to notify the homeowner of mandates, safety items or other regulations.  But as we see above with the given scenario it would be very difficult for this information to get to the 3^rd or 4^th homeowner.  Home lift manufacturers go out of business, elevator contractors who install these go out of business, homes are bought and sold. 

There are many responsible elevator companies who install these lifts and maintain them.  And most of the accidents are not the responsibility of the installer or the manufacturer.  The question is how to prevent them from occurring in the future.  My gut recommendation would be to mandate AHJ inspections of all home elevators by a Qualified Elevator Inspector once a year and require a maintenance program with a licensed elevator contractor.  This way we would have positive information flow to the end user for mandates, safety items or other regulations. Regular inspections would also allow to resolve any safety or usage items that have developed.  Homeowner education is key.

My experience - I went to a building on a buy/sell inspection and the lifts gate was damaged so the lead wood fold panel of it was stuck in the closed position[it was a wood fold gate] and the other part was retracted or missing.  The elevator was essentially running with barrier between the lift and the hoistway.  The realtor told me that the lift was in good working order before I had gotten there.  The new owner replaced the lift after my recommendation but a good question to ask is how many other lifts are out there like this and how long have they been running like this?

[Lift hoistway = CAT 5 raceway? - who ran this?]

After an accident, there are a series of law suits, money changes hands, but the loss will never be resolved monetarily.  No one likes being told what to do in their own home but if there is a dangerous device running there needs to be a process to identify these and either make them safe or decommission them.

Good resource - http://www.eesf.org which is the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation. 

There was also another resource available that was created after another accident that was a part of the settlement.  XYZ company had to form a resource to help prevent future accidents for X amount of years.  Well... X amount of years has elapsed and XYZ company abandoned it because their legal obligation was completed.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.