Tag Archives: Japan

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.

Nagoya, Japan – 28 year old woman dies in restaurant dumbwaiter accident

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According to News On Japan, “A restaurant worker [in Nagoya, Japan] died early Monday in an accident involving a dumb waiter.” The circumstances of the 28-year-old woman’s death were unclear but she apparently had been placing dishes in the restaurant’s small dumbwaiter on Sunday evening. According to the report, the dumbwaiter only measured 70 centimeters high by 60 centimeters wide, and was designed to carry dishes between floors of the restaurant.

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

According to a second article by Japan Today, “An assistant manager [at the restaurant] found her stuck in the door after she didn’t reply to his call.” The injured woman was rushed to hospital but died early Monday morning, according to authorities.

Read the full story by Japan Today, published December 3, 2012.

Shiodome, Tokyo, Japan – 45 year-old man suffers fatal fall after leaning against escalator handrail

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Satoshi Katayama was killed in April 2009 after he leaned backwards against an escalator handrail which then lifted him off his feet and over the the handrail, dropping him to his death into an open atrium nearly 30 feet high. Surveillance video of the incident depicts the victim briefly leaning against the handrail before being carried over the balustrade and falling to his death. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japan’s Consumer Safety Investigation Commission is reviewing the accident as of June 27, 2013, in light of the recently published results of an investigation by the Japanese Ministry of Land. The Land Ministry investigation concluded that safety barriers could have prevented the accident, but noted that the Japanese Building Standards Law did not require their installation.

Sources reporting this story include: