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According to statistics from the National Elevator Industry, Inc., elevators in the United States make about 18 billion passenger trips per year. Elevators and escalators provide a safe and reliable means of transportation for millions of people every day. Nonetheless, thousands of people are injured or trapped in elevators every year due to mechanical failures, human errors, or inadequate maintenance.
Furthermore, these infrequent elevator accidents or breakdowns can have tragic consequences – physically, financially, and mentally. For this reason, there is a need to raise public awareness and advocate for sensible reforms that can help prevent future elevator-related injuries and fatalities. In this article, we will explore why elevator safety is important and what can be done to improve it.
The Importance of Elevator Safety
Here are some reasons why elevator safety is important:
- Safely designed and maintained elevators can help protect passengers from serious injuries and deaths from accidents.
- Keeping elevators in service can help individuals who are mobility-impaired to access the upper floors of buildings safely.
- Elevator safety is crucial to ensure that the public can use multi-floor buildings.
- Elevator safety can help reduce liability risks for building owners and managers. Neglecting elevator safety exposes them to negligence lawsuits in the event of an accident.
- Operating elevators safely is imperative to comply with safety codes and industry standards.
- Ensuring elevator safety can help protect vulnerable users, such as children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities.
- Elevator safety also reduces the risk of breakdowns and malfunctions, which can cause inconvenience, frustration, and loss of productivity for elevator users.
In addition, a culture that promotes elevator safety encourages riders to be alert, avoid reckless behaviors, report problems, and follow guidelines when using the system.
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How to Improve Elevator Safety
Here are some crucial areas where improved awareness and advocacy can help drive positive changes:
Stronger Emergency Protocols
When elevator accidents occur, investigations often reveal gaps in planning for emergency situations. Building owners and managers need to implement clear protocols that cover the following situations:
- How trapped passengers can communicate with first responders.
- How to evacuate passengers if entrapment is prolonged.
- How specialized rescue personnel will be contacted and granted access to mechanical rooms/shafts.
- How frequent should emergency drills be performed.
Doing all these can help coordinate response and get prompt help to victims.
Proactive Inspection and Maintenance
Unfortunately, lack of adequate maintenance, repairs, or using substandard equipment are among the common factors that cause elevator accidents. Simply waiting to fix issues until problems arise is unacceptable. Building owners and property managers must hire qualified technicians to conduct thorough inspections, testing, and preventative maintenance at least quarterly on all elevator systems. Identifying and fixing issues before they occur can help mitigate potential issues and accidents.
Updating Safety Codes
In many jurisdictions, elevator safety codes have not been updated in over a decade. Also, these areas lag behind technological advancements. To ensure elevator safety, both state and local authorities must adopt the latest ASME, IEEE, and IEE safety codes and standards. Likewise, all older systems must be updated or upgraded to ensure compliance.
Operator Licensing and Training
Furthermore, anyone operating, servicing, or repairing elevator systems must be properly trained and licensed. Building owners and managers must only retain properly trained and vetted personnel to perform safety-critical elevator work. Also, state and local authorities must implement training conditions for operators to obtain or renew their professional licenses.
Child Entrapment Prevention
Unfortunately, there have been several heartbreaking cases of child injuries or fatalities due to little ones being trapped in elevator doors. To mitigate such risks, technology like light beam sensors should be installed in elevators to detect objects and cause the door to reopen. In addition, more awareness should be made to supervise children near elevators and remove unnecessary material between doors that can trap their fingers. Emergency call buttons may also be installed at a height that is reachable by children.
Focus on Accessibility
Additionally, people with disabilities often have no choice but to use elevators to access multi-level buildings. However, when elevators break down, essential activities become paralyzed. For this reason, building managers must ensure that elevators receive priority maintenance. Also, they must provide alternate conveying devices or workarounds during elevator repairs to support vulnerable individuals who often depend on the lift system.
Hazard Signage and Warnings
Also, building owners can encourage safe elevator usage behaviors by providing clear written warnings and visual safety signs at each level. For instance, a warning sign like – “This elevator has a 750 lb capacity.” – will help discourage overloading. Likewise, “Out of service” signs should be posted during maintenance to help prevent accidents. Essentially, posting these basic visual hazard warnings, depending on the situation, can help increase safety and prevent accidents.
Emergency Communication Systems
Being trapped in a stalled elevator can be a terrifying experience, especially when you’re unable to call for help. To improve elevator safety, emergency two-way intercom systems should be installed in the lift. The communication system should also be linked to building personnel or monitoring centers. This allows passengers who are stranded in the elevator to report emergencies. Also, they can keep constant communication with the emergency team and get assurances that rescue is coming.
Public Awareness Campaigns
Finally, most elevator passengers do not realize the safety risks involved or understand safe behaviors during an emergency situation. Hence, more efforts should be made towards educating elevator users about the dos and don’ts during emergency situations – through public awareness campaigns. These include not jumping, not forcing doors open, and seeking assistance when trapped. Knowing what to do can help ensure that the passenger manages the situation calmly and diligently.
Final Thoughts
Elevator safety is a vital and relevant issue that affects millions of people every day. While elevators are generally reliable and safe, they are not immune to accidents and injuries. Therefore, it is essential to improve and enforce the elevator safety regulations and standards to ensure the highest level of safety and quality for all elevator users. Also, the general public should be properly educated and informed about the best practices and risks of elevator use. This way, we can make elevators safer and mitigate accidents.
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