According to ABC15.com and CBS 5 Arizona, a Phoenix woman broke her right ankle, and possibly her left ankle as well, when the elevator she entered dropped three floors at a high speed. The fire department report noted that the victim entered the elevator on the third floor, and as soon as she activated the second floor cab call, she heard a loud noise and then the elevator dropped. The cause of the incident remained unknown. Read the full story by ABC15.com, published December 4, 2011, and the full story by CBS 5 Arizona, published December 4, 2011, and a follow-up posted December 5, 2011. Also check out the video below by ABC15.com, posted on YouTube December 4, 2011.
Based on media reports and the accounts of eyewitnesses and emergency officials, it would seem that the elevator likely experienced a hydraulic system failure. The loud noise heard before the incident may have been a catastrophic failure of a hydraulic piping, fitting, or valve. With a loss of hydraulic containment, the elevator fell as the hydraulic plunger lost supporting pressure.
According to records obtained by ElevatorAccident.net from the City of Phoenix, the incident elevator was a three-story Otis hydraulic elevator with a 2500 lb., 16 passenger capacity and a rated speed of 115 feet per minute. The applicable code year was either 1978 or 1984, although it could not conclusively be determined from the records alone. In either case, a hydraulic elevator of this vintage would not have been required to have a plunger gripper. According to the ASME A17.1a-2002, Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, a plunger gripper is “a mechanical device attached to a supporting structure in the pit, which stops and holds the car by gripping the plunger.” The basic function of a plunger gripper is to prevent these type of falling cab incidents in hydraulic elevators. Had a plunger gripper been required on this elevator, the victim in this case likely would not have been injured.