When it falls just time your jump right before it hits bottom. You will be fine. LOL

The elevators at my hospital are a crapshoot at best. Thankfully there’s always someone there but it still annoying. Plus you never know who or what you may be stuck with in that delightful space. One of my partners was trapped for 40 minutes the other day. She was pissed but ok otherwise. One of the other docs there refuses to take the elevators for health purposes and the risk of getting stuck. He’s 74 and going pretty strong! The facility is 7 stories with a basement.

Just be thankful that it wasn't an escalator.



Link to original video: https://youtu.be/VQVnx2KERvw

My buddy and I had just finished our shift and were in the elevator at the parking garage when it got stuck between floors. It was late at night and no one was coming out anytime soon, so we channeled our inner John McClane and pried the elevator doors open. The sketchy part was the transition from the elevator to the floor. The thought of the elevator moving while making the transition made me move faster. I haven’t taken the elevator in the garage since.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
I am not an elevator mechanic, but I understand that there is a device, the Otis elevator brake, that is installed on all elevators that prevents them from free-falling, even if the suspending cables are severed.

The attending ER physician a few years ago didn't have the same experience with her patients.

The CDC data indicates that thirty people die in elevators and escalators every year, and about seventeen thousand serious injuries occur...elevators accounting for sixty percent of the injuries, and ninety percent of the deaths. Fourteen of those deaths are workers, and seven of those are workers who fall in the elevator shaft.

My own preference is to not be number eighteen. Or seventeen thousand and one.

Until now, I believed that only really happened in sitcoms. Glad you're OK.

I worked as a helper for a couple of different elevator companies in the mid to late 90's. One was a residential elevator company and one was a commercial company.

I can definitely say when it comes to riding an elevator either get in the cab or get out. Don't linger between the doors or hold them. If you're stuck in one trapped between floors wait for help.

I know of several fatalities and they involve people getting caught between the doors and the elevator cab in motion.

I can also speak from first hand experience of how badly and quickly a door can malfunction. There was an elevator at a Tulane dorm I went to check as the elevator was stopped and the doors wouldn't open. As soon as I tried to use the door key to open the doors The doors slammed open fast. I was lucky to get my hand off of the key in time. I'm sure my hand would have been broken if I was still holding the key.

Oh, and as far as escalators go when you ride one hold the hand rail and don't ever put a baby stroller on an escalator. I worked on an escalator at the Riverwalk in New Orleans that had a broken step that became lodged in the track, no one was riding it when the step broke.

On the lighter side, my supervisor took a call at a Tulane dorm one Saturday night. When he opened the door to get on top of the elevator there was a Tulane student sitting on top of the elevator with the light on and reading a book. He had just been sitting there reading a book riding on top of the elevator for a couple of hours.

How in the world ,in this day and age, can there Not !
Be a way to call some type of emergency services personal , from an elevator?

There should be redundant systems in place.

A. Building management
B. Local p.d. or fire
C. Elevator company

And that mode of communication should have it's own emergency back up generator.

And the stuck people get $30.00 per minute, after a 12 minute grace period.

In Chicago an express elevator stuck between floors. Took quite a while because there is a concrete wall that must be breeched as there are no stops and hence no openings. Firefighters had some serious work cut out for themselves.
BTW it happens more than you would imagine.

You haven't lived until you've been on a 100 year old freight elevator, constructed of wood, with several thousand pounds, operating the hand lever to make it go/stop.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
You haven't lived until you've been on a 100 year old freight elevator, constructed of wood, with several thousand pounds, operating the hand lever to make it go/stop.

The company I worked for had a warehouse in an old (1900’s ?) factory. Three floors with a freight elevator. The procedure for material handlers was to load elevator, then use stairs to destination level and use manual cable to control the elevator. Well everyone rode the elevator. Then they discovered that if you were going to the top floor there was a safety stop on the elevator. So when going to the third floor they would just wait for the elevator to stop. Well one day the elevator went to the third floor and did not stop. Breaking wood and then it stopped. The guy on the elevator was sure he was going to go to the basement.

And people looks surprised when I sprint across the door threshold.....




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AS3x0wgPDU

Or this one from Taiwan......

I got stuck in the elevator of my dorm during my freshman year of college, on my way to an American History final exam. Another resident and I were in there for about 30 minutes until rescued, and I had to get a note from the Housing Department verifying the incident to take to my professor in order for him to allow a makeup exam.

Around 2010 my office was in a 62 story building that was built in the early 1960's. I was riding the elevator with a elevator tech that was in the building quite a bit. I asked him about the safety of the elevators. He looked at me and said: "Remember your 1964 Chevelle? The safety equipment on this elevator is every bit as good as the safety equipment on that car". As it happens, I never owned a '64 Chevelle. However, my good friend in high school did have one. Seat belts and drum brakes constituted safety in '64. All I could think of was drum brakes and how well they worked in the rain. Never felt safe until the elevators went through a massive upgrade.

I did get stuck in a elevator after pulling an all night DR exercise at Sungard in downtown Philly. I learned s few things:
1) I don't have claustrophobia.
2) It's no fun being stuck in an elevator with someone who does have claustrophobia.
3) The fire department takes control when they show up (that was a good thing, building security was worthless).

The fire department got the elevator running and it stopped on an unoccupied floor, we got off and let the fire department find us and walk us down the stairs.

A coworker was waiting for us outside. He was wondering where we were then spotted a fire truck. It pulled up in front of him and the firemen ran into the building. He told me his first thought was: "Somehow Mike has something to do with this"