Tag Archives: India

Bangalore, India – LPG delivery man fatally crushed by descending elevator

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A 44-year old Indian man delivering liquid propane gas died Tuesday, November 5, 2013, around 12:30 p.m. local time, when he was fatally crushed by an elevator in an apartment building in Devara Jeevana Halli, Bangalore, India. According to early reports, the man had completed his delivery on the ground floor, and was on his way to the building’s first floor to collect payment. When he registered a hall call, the elevator doors apparently opened without the cab present. The victim apparently stepped through the opening, falling into the pit, where he was then crushed when the elevator descended seconds later to answer his hall call. Witnesses stated that they observed a significant amount of blood and were only able to see the victim’s hands, and used crowbars in an attempt to lift the cab off the victim. Local police are investigating the circumstances of the accident and had not yet released a formal statement, but noted that it appeared to be a malfunction and not foul play. The official statement also noted that they would investigate whether the elevator manufacturer, Lenzi Elevators India, was criminally negligent.

Typically, modern passenger elevators in the United States use a combination of an elevator car door and hoistway doors at each floor. A door operator mounted on top of the elevator car then opens the hoistway doors when the cab arrives. In such an arrangement, the hoistway doors will remain closed until the cab is lined up with that floor, allowing the door operator to open the hoistway door, which should never open to an empty shaft. However, even in the United States, there are often freight elevator door arrangements in which each floor has an independent door operator. In that case, a malfunction could potentially lead to an open shaft. In this case, it is not clear what the circumstances were. However, in India, “swing door” arrangements that resemble a typical building door are still relatively common, so it is also possible that this case involved a swing door with an independent hoistway door operator. We will update this story if additional information becomes available.

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:

Mumbai, India – 18 year-old girl crushed to death under elevator while sweeping pit

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According to Indian news agency DNA (Daily News & Analysis, an 18 year-old girl was crushed to death Wednesday, January 9, 2013, after she entered the hoistway, apparently to sweep the pit. The report is somewhat unusual in that it specifically describes that the motor of the “old lift” somehow crashed down on top of her, fatally crushing her. The victim died at the scene. An employee at the building who was not named described the building as “dilapidated”. A comment on that article also notes that there may have been other similar incidents at that location. Read the full story, published January 10, 2013.

Incidents like this highlight why it is important that access to elevator pits, hoistways, and machine spaces is restricted to elevator personnel only. It is not yet clear how the victim was able to access the pit, however, the original news report indicates that it was apparently part of her “sweeping duty” to sweep the pit. In the United States, building maintenance and housekeeping staff are generally prohibited by code from entering these restricted spaces. Cleaning of the pit should be part of the maintenance control program followed by the elevator contractor during periodic preventive maintenance visits.

Korrukkupet, Chennai, India – Man dies, two seriously injured after elevator crashes at wedding hall

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According to the Times of India, a 55-year-old man died and two people were seriously injured when an elevator cable snapped in a marriage hall in Korrukkupet on Sunday afternoon. According to the report, the elevator plunged from the third floor to the ground floor after the cables gave way. It was unclear at the time of the report whether overspeed governors or other types of safety devices are required by any applicable elevator codes in India, however, according to the article, the elevator was only six months old.

Read the full story by the Times of India, published December 3, 2012.

A follow-up article by the New Indian Express, published December 7, 2012, revealed much greater detail regarding the circumstances of the accident.

According to that article, the victims were riding the elevator when it stopped suddenly and entrapped the victims. The victims signaled for help, and in an effort to free the entrapped passengers from the elevator, untrained employees of the wedding hall apparently went into the motor room and released the elevator’s brakes, sending the elevator into a free fall. Normally, the counterweight will cause the counterweight, not the elevator cab, to free fall, however, it is possible that with the weight of four or more passengers that the counterweight’s balance might be exceeded, causing the elevator to fall downwards when the brakes were released. Interestingly, the article notes that if the employees had “phased” (or stuttered) their release of the brake, the elevator would not have fallen and the victims would not have been injured.

The New Indian Express article also includes a quote from an official that investigated the accident that described the situation:

“In their anxiety to quickly bring the occupants of the lift out, men who were not properly trained or authorised to handle the system released the lever without realising that it could lead to a free fall.”