Category Archives: San Francisco

Santa Clara, CA – Seasoned elevator mechanic struck, killed by counterweight at Levi’s Stadium

by peter | 1 Comment

On Tuesday, June 11, 2013, around 6:45 a.m., seasoned elevator mechanic Donald White, 63, a 43-year industry veteran, was struck and killed by a counterweight while working on a ladder in an elevator pit. The elevator was being constructed by Schindler at the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium, Levi’s Stadium, a $1.3 billion project expected to be completed in 2014. Cal/OSHA is investigating the accident and expects to have a completed report in approximately six months. It was not immediately clear what caused the counterweight to move while Mr. White was in the pit. This is the first major incident reported so far during the stadium’s construction.

Elevator accidents involving counterweights generally involve elevator personnel, as in this case, although we have documented at least two other recent cases involving non-elevator personnel that entered the elevator pit to clean the pit and to retrieve dropped keys. Besides counterweight collisions in the pit, elevator mechanics and inspectors can be struck by the counterweight as the car and the counterweight pass each other halfway up the hoistway. Working with a ladder in a pit is especially dangerous as it will reduce or eliminate available refuge space while also potentially introducing a foreign object into that space.

Sources reporting this incident include:

San Francisco, CA – Man fatally crushed in BART elevator shaft

by peter | Leave a comment

According to the Huffington Post, a man was crushed by an elevator in San Francisco’s BART subway station on Monday, March 11, 2013. The circumstances surrounding the incident remain somewhat unclear, but the report indicates that a passenger boarded the elevator and registered a cab call in the up direction before hearing “a crunching sound and a man yelp.” The elevator then stopped with that passenger entrapped. The entrapped passenger called for help, and after being successfully rescued, authorities searched the hoistway and found the victim, who was immediately pronounced dead.

Strangely, BART Police Lieutenant John Conneely indicated that “the man may have been sleeping atop the elevator” but that it was unclear how he entered the hoistway or how long he had been inside. Conneely also indicated that personal belongings were found on the car top, but it was not certain that they belonged to the victim. Read the full story published March 11, 2013.

It is unclear if the elevator had a manually operable “run/stop” switch, however, it is unlikely that it would have made a difference in this case, since the only indication that an accident had occurred was when the entrapped passenger heard the victim being crushed.

This highly unusual incident demonstrates that an elevator hoistway is perhaps the most dangerous place a person can be. No one should ever enter the hoistway besides elevator personnel and emergency personnel that have been trained to safely access these spaces. Also in this case, the entrapped passenger responded correctly by waiting for help.