Elevator safety – New York City Accident

On Thursday August 22^nd, 2019 there was a fatality due to elevator malfunction.  A 30 year old man, Charles Waibren, was killed when an elevator ran with the doors open pinning him between the top of the elevator and the hoistway.  Two people exited the elevator and the 3^rd person attempted to exit and the car began descending and smashed him.  There where 2 other people who where waiting to exit the elevator who saw the entire scene.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/22/us/new-york-elevator-death/index.html

We speak about elevator safety on a regular basis and this is specific incident is one of the reasons why.  The investigation is ongoing and eventually we will find out why this occurred and money will be paid and blame will be placed but the reality is Samuel Waisbren is not going to come home ever again.

The key to elevator safety is the following; Elevator companies need to give elevator mechanics time and resources to maintain and repair elevators properly.  Elevator mechanics need to use time and resources given to them by companies to be vigilant on completing proper maintenance and repairs in a timely and thorough manner.  Building owners need to be responsible for their equipment, pay a reasonable rate for maintenance and repairs and take elevator companies upgrade recommendations seriously.  If one of these three pieces falls out of sync then we will have more accidents and injuries.

On the company side, everyone from the sales person to the technician executing maintenance or repair is responsible for making good decisions, educating building owners and making sure the right thing is done.

New York City has two big mandates in the near future.

1/1/20 – door lock monitoring

1/1/27 – Emergency brakes

If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.

Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.