Shanghai, China – Woman killed by runaway shopping cart on inclined moving walkway

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A 60-year old grandmother died Friday, June 21, 2013, after a runaway shopping cart struck her at high speed while she was riding an inclined moving walkway at the Lianhua supermarket in the Jiading district of Shanghai, China. Surveillance video of the incident depicts the victim calmly disembarking the moving walk and turning around in the split second before the runaway shopping cart struck her fatally, suggesting that the victim heard the cart careening out of control, even though it was too late for her to get out of the cart’s path. According to the report by STOMP, a Singapore news agency, the runaway cart belonged to two men who had loaded it with 15 crates of drinks, estimated to have weighed 330 pounds (150kg), who boarded the moving walkway moments before losing control of the cart. The victim was reportedly thrown almost 20 feet (6 meters) from the point of impact. She was transported to a nearby hospital but succumbed to her injuries. Local police are investigating the incident.

While somewhat uncommon in the United States, inclined moving walkways are often used in airports and supermarkets to transport people between floors with the capacity of an escalator and the convenience of an elevator (namely, that people can take along their suitcase, shopping cart, or baby carriage). Typically, the carts at locations with inclined moving walks will remain under control using an automatic brake that is applied when the cart handle is released, or via strong magnets in the cart wheels that stay adhered to the ramp surface. However in this case, the recklessness of the two patrons to use their own cart, which they also overloaded, apparently led to this woman’s untimely death.

Also of note is that the surveillance video depicts that the moving walks in this incident were continuously sloped. In the United States, moving walkway treadways are limited to inclines of 12 degrees at any point, and 3 degrees within 3 feet of the landing. Had the slope tapered at the bottom landing, it might have provided the victim an additional split second to avoid the careening cart. However, clearly in this case the reckless loading of an unsafe cart appears to be the prevailing causative factor.

Sources reporting this story include:

New Delhi, Delhi, India – Nine people injured after apartment building falls one floor

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Nine people suffered minor injuries around 2:50 p.m. local time, June 18, 2013, when an elevator in an apartment building in New Delhi, Delhi, India apparently “slipped” one floor, falling from the fourth floor before stopping suddenly at the third floor. The victims were all taken to a nearby hospital, where they received first aid and were released. No information was available regarding the cause of the malfunction.

Based on the the description of the incident, it appears that the elevator may have descended uncontrollably, causing the elevator to overspeed downwards, causing the overspeed governor to apply the car safety. Typically, when an elevator exceeds its rated speed, the overspeed governor will first trip electrically, sending a signal to the elevator controller to stop the car. If the controller is unable to stop the car and the car continues to accelerate downward, it will then trip mechanically. When the governor trips mechanically, jaws on the centrifugal governor grab the governor cable. The energy of the descending car then causes the governor cable, which is now fixed, to engage the car’s emergency brakes, which clamp down on the guide rails, stopping the car.

In the United States, the ASME A17.1 “Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators” provides that when the overspeed governor trips mechanically, the car should not decelerate at a rate greater than “1 G”, the rate of normal gravitational acceleration, or 9.8 meters per second-squared. It should be noted that a downward acceleration of “1 G” would cause an elevator rider to experience a relative weight twice their normal weight. That is, a passenger would “weigh” twice their normal weight relative to the elevator floor below their feet, so it is not difficult to understand how a passenger would be thrown around and injured when an elevator stops during a high speed mechanical safety application. However, had the mechanical safety not been provided or malfunctioned, the elevator would have continued to decelerate until it reached terminal velocity and crashed into the pit at the bottom landing, so despite that these passengers suffered minor injuries, they should consider themselves lucky that the safety devices worked as designed, allowing them to escape potentially fatal injuries.

Sources reporting this story locally include:

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

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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 Antonio, TX – 20 injured after convention center escalator suddenly reverses, dumps passengers

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On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, around 1 p.m., approximately 20 people suffered mostly minor injuries when an escalator at Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, malfunctioned and suddenly reversed direction uncontrollably, causing passengers to be dumped at the bottom landing. Fourteen of the victims were hospitalized; the remaining six were treated at the scene. The convention center was hosting a group of Dish Network employees at the time of the incident.

According to eyewitnesses, the employees had just concluded their lunch break and were returning to their meeting when the incident occurred. Eyewitnesses also described seeing an escalator mechanic working on the escalator before the incident occurred.

A spokesperson for the City of San Antonio revealed that KONE is the contractor responsible for the escalators are the convention center. The spokesperson also confirmed that KONE was on-site during the event which is “normal procedure during large conventions,” however they did not confirm eyewitness reports of KONE servicing the incident escalator earlier that day.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations is investigating the incident but has not released any statement regarding the cause. A follow-up story by KENS5 San Antonio noted that numerous lawsuits had already been filed against the city.

Sources reporting this incident include:

The story was widely reported by local television news stations. Where available, the reports are embedded below.

NBC News 4 San Antonio spoke with a number of eyewitnesses for their evening broadcast:

An early report from KSAT-TV, an ABC affiliate in San Antonio:

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KENS5 San Antonio evening report:

St. Petersburg, FL – Worker crushed while removing fluid from hydraulic elevator pit

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Mark Allen Johnson, 45, of Greater Northdale, Florida, was fatally crushed around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, 2013, while working to remove oil and water from the pit of a hydraulic elevator at the TradeWinds Resort Hotel in Saint Petersburg Beach, Florida. Mr. Johnson was working with a co-worker for SWS Environmental Services, a company that specializes in spill response, in response to an elevator inspection two days prior that noted excessive fluid in the pit. St. Petersburg Beach Fire Chief Ernie Hand described Johnson as apparently standing halfway between the ground floor landing and the interior of the elevator shaft when the elevator descended on top of him, crushing him. An eyewitness stated that she had just exited an adjacent elevator when she saw the elevator car suddenly drop “a couple of feet” onto Johnson. The other employee for SWS, who was not in the pit at the time, was not injured. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and OSHA are investigating the incident.

Cristen Rensel, of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, stated that “The elevator had been locked with a key by maintenance of the TradeWinds,” and that Johnson and his co-worker “had been working for about 40 minutes” prior to the incident. Based on that statement, it is not clear that proper lockout procedures were followed. Generally, building owners do not employ their own staff of elevator personnel, hiring elevator contractors instead. The maintenance staff of the TradeWinds may not have received proper training on elevator maintenance and lockout procedures. From the perspective of building maintenance staff, “locking out” an elevator may mean a variety of things, for example, placing an elevator on independent service, which would prevent the elevator from responding to hall calls, but is not intended for use when working under or on top of an elevator car. None of the reports mentioned that the elevator’s pit stop switch or main line disconnect switch were opened to prevent movement of the elevator. Furthermore, it is not clear whether Mr. Johnson or his co-worker had ever received any training specific to elevator maintenance that would have qualified them as “elevator personnel” in accordance with the standards set forth in ASME A17.1, “Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators”. The website for SWS Environmental Services describes a variety of services they provide but makes no mention of the word “elevator”. The A17.1 limits access to elevator pits to elevator personnel only. Furthermore, the A17.1 restricts hoistway door unlocking devices to elevator personnel only; it is not clear who unlocked the hoistway door nearest the pit while the elevator was above the landing.

Assuming that either the pit stop switch or the main line disconnect switch had actually been opened in accordance with appropriate safety procedures, another possibility is that the elevator’s hydraulic system had failed, possibly due to bad valves or seals, leading to a relief of the pressure in the hydraulic jack and causing the elevator to descend unexpectedly. The code year of the elevator was not reported in any of the source articles noted below, but generally older hydraulic elevators were not required to be equipped with “plunger grippers” which would retard or stop the unexpected movement of the elevator in the event of a hydraulic system failure.

UPDATE (April 26, 2013): A follow-up report from the Tampa Bay Times corroborates our earlier speculation that none of the individuals involved were trained elevator personnel. Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation spokeswoman Sandi Copes Poreda released an email stating that Johnson was not a certified elevator technician and added, “Anyone working inside the elevator or hoistway must either be a Certified Elevator Technician or under the direct supervision of a Certificate of Competency holder. We do not know whether the other worker on site was licensed.” Lt. Joel Granata of St. Petersburg Beach Fire and Rescue added that the elevator’s main line disconnect switch was not locked out when first responders arrived in response to reports of the accident.

The State of Florida sent elevator inspector Frank Matuszewski to examine the elevator in response to the incident. Mr. Matuszewski noted 13 violations, mostly minor, but notably including a “leak in the muffler”. In the context of electric hydraulic elevators, the “muffler” is not what a layman might expect. Hydraulic pumps may not run perfectly, imparting pressure pulsations within the hydraulic fluid, which can cause noise and vibration inside the elevator. These pulses can also cause resonant vibration in adjoining machinery, causing additional vibration and noise in the elevator. A hydraulic muffler is used to reduce such vibrations.

The story was widely reported by local media. Video reports of the story are included below.

The sources used for the above story include:

Schaumburg, IL – Three elderly victims suffer minor injuries in escalator mishap

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According to the Chicago Tribune, two women and one man, all in their 80s, suffered cuts and abrasions during an escalator accident that occurred at 11:08 a.m., Saturday, March 23, 2013 in the Nordstrom department store at the Woodfield Mall.

For an unknown reason, not currently attributed to any mechanical malfunction, the male victim started to fall and attempted to grab his wife to regain his balance. Unfortunately, his wife then fell and toppled onto the third victim. All three victims were taken to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries. A police spokesperson stated that none of the injuries were life threatening, and that police had reviewed surveillance video of the incident. Read the full story at ChicagoTribune.com, published March 23, 2013.

Assuming that there was no specific mechanical deficiency that led to these injuries, this incident highlights the everyday dangers of riding an escalator. Persons with limited mobility, or other conditions that could lead to loss of balance (such as vertigo), should avoid escalators and use elevators instead.

Although many able-bodied people are able to safely ride escalators (and even walk on them while they are in motion without incident), trip and fall accidents associated with escalators are quite common, and unfortunately, they are often more severe than trip and fall accidents involving stairs due to the nature of escalators. Escalators often have sharp, collapsing steps with higher step heights than a comparable staircase. This can also make it difficult for a falling rider to right themselves.

A study published in 2008 found that nearly 40,000 adults age 65 and older were injured on escalators between 1991 and 2005. However, the author of the study also noted that escalator-related injuries still comprised only a small proportion of the total number of injuries to older adults.

Tampa, FL – Man suffers fatal fall down elevator hoistway at Tampa International Airport

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Chad Wolfe, a 31-year-old auto mechanic from West Newtown, Pennsylvania, was found dead around 3 a.m. on March 15, 2013, after he apparently fell down an elevator hoistway at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida. Initial reports noted that the victim was intoxicated and behaving erratically, including climbing on a tree in the airport lobby, moments before the accident occurred. The medical examiner’s report noted that the victim had an “oil-like substance” on his hands, and that the investigating detective noted that it appeared the victim “forced open [the] elevator door to gain entry into the elevator shaft.”

Initial reports noted that the hoistway door interlock on the elevator had been “compromised” and that it “had been tampered with” but added that there was no indication that the interlock had malfunctioned prior to the incident. The elevator had passed its most recent inspection before the accident.

This case serves as an unfortunate reminder that the general public should never try to access an elevator hoistway for any reason. The hoistway door interlock, like any other mechanical or electronic device, can be damaged by abuse or vandalism, leading to failures, which can result in unfortunate situations like this where a passenger was able to pry the doors open with their bare hands. Hoistway doors should remain fully closed and locked any time the elevator is not present at that landing. An open hoistway should always be treated as an imminently dangerous fatal hazard.

Download the medical examiner’s report, as provided by 10 News WTSP, or watch their video reports, below:

Sources reporting this incident locally include:

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

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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.

Salimiya, Kuwait City, Kuwait – Worker loses fingers caught in elevator door

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According to Emirates 24/7, a Filipino worker at a restaurant in the Salimiya neighborhood of Kuwait City lost some of his fingers after they became caught between the elevator and the elevator door on Monday, March 4, 2013.

Kuwait police described the elevator as “lacking minimum safety standards”, and the article notes that emergency personnel “had to smash the lift’s door” to release the man. Read the reporting article, published March 4, 2013.

Typically, elevators have door reopening devices such as “safety edges” or “scanner edges” which detect obstructions in the path of the door. A “safety edge” is typically a rubber bumper that retracts when it comes into contact with an obstruction. A “scanner edge” uses beams of light to detect when a beam is interrupted by an obstruction. However, even when these devices are present, there is still the possibility that something as small as a human finger could become entrapped between the outer hoistway doors.

Generally speaking, door entrapment accidents result in severe injuries if the elevator runs while the unsafe condition exists. Similar door entrapment incidents have occurred in the past when garments such as scarfs become entrapped and the elevator runs, leading to strangulation.

Upper West Side, NY – One-year old boy trips, get hand stuck in escalator

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According to WABC 7 Eyewitness News, a 21-month old boy got his hand stuck between two steps in an escalator after he tripped and fell around 10:48a.m., Friday, February 22, 2013. The boy was riding with an adult on the escalator, located inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore at the corner of Broadway and 82nd Street when the incident occurred. According to an unnamed employee, the escalator automatically stopped shortly after the boy’s hand became entrapped. The boy was able to free himself shortly thereafter. Firefighters arrived and treated the boy at the scene for a hand laceration. Read the full story published February 22, 2013.

This young boy was incredibly fortunate in that the step-upthrust safety device apparently functioned as designed. The step-upthrust device automatically stops an escalator when an obstruction is detected in the lower-curve area, which would cause a step to be elevated higher than usual, which in turn would cause an impact with the comb plates at the bottom landing. Although the child did suffer a cut to his hand, his injuries might have been far more severe or even fatal if the escalator had continued to run while his hand was entrapped. This incident also highlights an important but basic elevator safety rule: always hold a child’s hand when riding an escalator. Never allow children to play around or run on escalators.