Category Archives: Movement with Doors Open

East Harlem, NY – Elderly man in critical condition after elevator crushes his legs

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According to ABC 7 Eyewitness News, an 85 year-old man was left in critical condition after an elevator in his public housing apartment building crushed both his legs around 5 p.m. Sunday, December 30, 2012. Firefighters reported that when they arrived, the elevator was stuck between the first and second floor, with the man’s body inside the cab, and his legs dangling outside the cab on the first floor. Firefighters used air bags and other extrication methods to free the man’s legs and pull him up into the elevator cab. The victim was rushed to nearby Harlem Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, with both of his legs fractured. Read the full story by ABC 7 Eyewitness News, published December 31, 2012, and watch the video report below.

Interestingly, this is the third consecutive year in which a passenger was seriously injured or killed by an elevator in New York City that moved with the doors open during the month of December. On December 25, 2010, a woman was seriously injured at SUNY Downstate Medical Center when an elevator ascended unexpectedly while she was in the open doorway, and on December 14, 2011, Suzanne Hart was fatally crushed under similar circumstances. In both of those cases, an elevator mechanic was found to have used a wire jumper to bypass the elevator’s door interlock and gate switch safety circuits. Although there is no information yet as to what caused this incident, given that the firefighters described the man’s legs as “dangling outside” the elevator, it is very likely that the elevator moved while its doors were still open, and while the man was within the door threshold. It is not yet clear why the elevator would have moved while the doors were still open. The Department of Buildings will likely conduct an investigation and we will publish the results of that investigation when that information becomes available to us.

The New York City Housing Authority is notably the single largest operator of elevators in the City of New York, and is responsible for over 3,300 elevators in nearly 2,600 residential buildings, serving over 400,000 residents. The reliability of elevators in New York City’s public housing has long been a sore point with residents. A memorable New York Times article published March 12, 2005 famously opened with, “Up, up, up it rises, this elevator redolent of urine, groaning toward the rooftop of another tired building in the Queensbridge public housing development, the largest in Queens, in New York, in North America.” On June 12, 2012, the New York City Housing Authority reached a settlement with tenants in a class action lawsuit that alleged the Housing Authority let its fleet of elevators fall into “widespread disrepair and dysfunction.” The case is Brito v. New York City Housing Authority, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No 09-1621.

Himeji, Japan – 64 year old delivery man dies after elevator moved with doors open

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According to News Limited, “a male office worker died on Monday afternoon ‘after getting stuck in a lift that suddenly descended’, a police spokesman said.” Although the exact circumstances remain unclear, it appears that the man was a deliver worker who was transporting something from one floor to another. Apparently the item he was moving became stuck in the gap between the cab and the floor landing. The man was then standing in the sill, with one foot in the car, and the other foot on the landing, when the elevator suddenly descended, apparently crushing the man.

Read the full story at News.com.au, published December 3, 2012.

Manhattan, NY – Suzanne Hart fatally crushed in freak elevator accident

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According to multiple sources, 41-year old ad executive Suzanne Hart was killed around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 14, 2011, while she boarded an elevator on the ground floor at 285 Madison Avenue when the elevator moved up suddenly while the doors were still open, crushing her, and causing the elevator to become stuck between the first and second floors. Two witnesses were inside the elevator when the incident occurred and were subsequently treated for psychological trauma. Read the full initial report by the Wall Street Journal.

The New York City Department of Buildings investigated the incident and concluded that elevator mechanics had used wire jumpers to bypass the elevator’s door interlock circuits, allowing the elevator to move with its doors open. Read the full story by WABC7 Eyewitness News and watch their video report below.

It is difficult to understate how dangerous it is to bypass an elevator’s door interlocks with a wire jumper, and this case is proof that fatal accidents can, and will, occur when wire jumpers are used improperly. This case is eerily reminiscent to another accident that occurred in New York City nearly a year prior, on Christmas Day, December 25, 2010, at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, in which a woman was seriously injured while boarding an elevator when the elevator moved suddenly with the doors open. In both cases, a mechanic used a wire jumper without a helper or a barricade to protect the riding public.

Long Beach, CA – Woman killed trying to escape stuck elevator at CSULB

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According to the Daily 49er, the campus newspaper at Cal State University Long Beach, Annette Lujan, 47, of Huntington Beach, California, was killed around 9 a.m. Tuesday while trying to escape a stuck elevator. Lujan was on her way to work at the Office of University Research in the Foundation Building when the elevator became stuck between floors. Lujan apparently attempted to pry the doors open and climb up to the next floor to escape, when the elevator suddenly and unexpectedly moved down, crushing her. According to police, a bystander was attempting to help Lujan out of the elevator when the accident occurred. Read the full story by the Daily 49er, published December 6, 2011, as well as a follow-up by the Daily 49er, published January 22, 2012.

According to KNBC Los Angeles, an investigation by California OSHA determined that “misjudgment” was the primary cause of the accident. The four-page report noted that elevator was built in 1994, and was extensively tested by engineers after the incident, but they were “unable to determine the causal factors and their findings were inconclusive.” A section of the report titled “human factor,” cited “misjudgment of hazardous situation” as a major factor contributing to Ms. Lujan’s death. According to the report, the moment before the fatal accident occurred, the elevator car door opened about one foot below the third floor of the building, while the elevator continued to move downward slowly. The sole witness, a student worker, said she tried to help Lujan crawl out of the elevator when it crushed her, catching her neck and shoulders. Read the full story by KNBC Los Angeles, published June 26, 2012, or watch the video below.

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

Although elevator malfunctions and entrapments are uncommon, they are often extremely stressful for passengers that become entrapped. However, it is critical that trapped passengers call for help and wait patiently to be rescued by properly trained elevator personnel. Never try to pry the doors open if the elevator stops unexpectedly. Many newer elevators are equipped with “door restrictors,” devices which prevent passengers from opening the elevator doors when the car is not at a landing. Although door restrictors are required by current elevator code, they were not required in 1994.

Although elevators are designed not to run with the doors open, there are limited circumstances in which an elevator may move with the doors open, such as leveling, brake failure, or loss of hydraulic pressure. In these cases, for example, it is possible that the elevator was within the “door zone” defined by code to be approximately one foot above and below a floor, which is close enough to a landing to allow the elevator to move with the doors open. In the event an elevator’s doors open unexpectedly when the car is not at a landing, never try to climb or jump out of the elevator. Stand away from the doors and wait to be rescued by elevator personnel. Always assume that the elevator may move again unexpectedly if it has already malfunctioned. Until the malfunctioning cab has been secured by elevator personnel, there is no way to be sure the elevator is safe to exit.

Brooklyn, NY – Woman dragged 8 floors, leg mangled by hospital elevator

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According to the New York Daily News, an elevator accident occurred at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Christmas Day, causing one woman’s leg to be horribly mangled. Firefighters that responded to the incident reported that the woman’s leg was trapped in the narrow gap between the elevator cab and the door sill. Firefighters cut power to the elevator and used clamps to secure the elevator car, before determining that a gas-powered cutting saw was needed to cut through the steel frame of the cab and the concrete eighth floor door sill. The woman was apparently visiting a sick relative at the hospital with her daughter, who witnessed the harrowing event. Read the full story by the Daily News, published December 25, 2010.

A comprehensive investigation into the circumstances leading to this incident determined that a mechanic for contractor Al-An Elevator, Jason Jordan (no relation), had used a wire jumper to bypass the elevator’s door interlock and gate switch circuits. The King’s County District Attorney’s office secured a felony assault indictment against the mechanic because he allegedly “fled the hospital without saying a word or offering help” after discovering that his actions had led to the victim’s injuries. Read the full story by the New York Times, published December 15, 2011.

At least a portion of the injury event was caught on surveillance video and was released to the media. The video, courtesy of ElevatorExpert.net and published by the New York Daily News, which does not include narration, first depicts a high-definition re-creation of the elevator’s movement with the doors open. Next is actual surveillance video of the injury to Ms. Jordan, which frighteningly depicts her casually stepping on to the elevator when it shoots up unexpectedly with the doors still open as her daughter looks on in horror, gazing into the dark, open hoistway where her mother was just standing a moment prior. Bystanders and hospital employees, even on different floors, all apparently heard Ms. Jordan’s screams as she was dragged up the hoistway, and rushed to her aid. However, the video then depicts the accused elevator mechanic walking down the stairs from the elevator motor room, gazing on the woman, still trapped at the 8th floor landing, then leaving the hospital post-haste, moments before dozens of firefighters arrived on the scene. The end of the video depicts some still photos of the aftermath of the rescue, depicting the gruesome amount of force required to extricate Ms. Jordan from the narrow space between the elevator cab and the door sill, which normally measures less than one inch in width. The final moments of the video depict a forensic re-creation of the injury event as it moves up at high speed with its doors will open.

This case was also the the subject of an episode of a CBS six-part mini-series titled “Brooklyn DA” which aired on June 29, 2013. The show depicts Kings County ADA Lawrence Oh as he works to investigate the accident and prosecute the mechanic.