Elevators can be found anywhere these days including office buildings and residential premises. Most people take elevators for granted but malfunctions happen almost every day and can cause very serious injuries.
Note that, most of these elevator accidents could have been prevented if the necessary precautions were taken. Here are some of the most common elevator accidents and their causes.
1. Misleveling
Here, an elevator will not come to a stop at the proper floor level. Therefore, it will leave a very unexpected and dangerous space between the floor and the elevator car. It’s very dangerous especially for children and the elderly. Most likely elevator users will get trapped and end up falling or tripping.
It mostly happens with old elevators, especially those built between 1930 and 1960. If you have been involved in such an elevator accident, you can hire an attorney to represent you. However, to win the case, he/she must prove that there were similar accidents previously with the same elevator. Additionally, the attorney can prove any leveling citations and brake problems with the elevator.
2. Excessive Speed
If the speed of the elevator is not adjusted properly, anyone riding the car might be injured when they fall to the floor or if they crash against the walls of the speeding elevator. These speeding accidents are mostly hazardous in tall buildings. That’s because there will be more speed impact causing injuries to the legs and knees.
The elevator might have mechanisms in place to detect overspeeding but if they are defective, the elevator might fail to completely come to a stop. Your personal injury attorney should be able to prove excessive speed by doing some impact tests to determine the cause of the injuries and the speed at which the elevator was traveling.
3. Lack Of Proper Maintenance And The Required Services
An elevator that’s not routinely checked or where repairs aren’t done when they happen is likely to malfunction. As a result, elevator riders might experience some serious injuries. If you have been injured when riding an elevator because it wasn’t properly maintained, your attorney should be able to provide maintenance records that prove the same.
Note that, if the repairs weren’t done at the right time or if substandard materials were used, the attorney should be able to prove that your injuries resulted from the same.
4. Falling Into The Shaft
It’s one of the deadliest elevator accidents and might happen if there are defective door interlocks in place or if the elevator equipment has malfunctioned among many other causes. Here, the elevator car fails to arrive even after the doors have opened and distracted victims will immediately fall into the shaft.
The severity of the injuries depends on how high the victim was when he/she fell into the shaft. Ideally, it’s a good idea to pause until you see the elevator’s interior before going through the doors. There are cases where untrained personnel might start removing passengers from the broken elevator thus causing severe injuries if they fall into the shaft.
Regardless of the cause of the fall, you need to hire a personal injury attorney about the issue to get the right compensation once the liable party has been identified.
5. Broken Elevator Doors
Another common elevator accident is dysfunctional elevator doors. Here, the passengers will get injured if the door closes too fast. Most of these accidents happen to elevators with hallway doors and if the elevator is speeding, it might injure the passengers. Note that, elevators with swinging doors can also cause issues and crush passengers when the doors close too fast.
Other Common Elevator Accidents
Besides those mentioned above, there are a few common elevator accidents such as the following.
1. Electrocution – It happens if there is improper wiring in the elevator. A person might be electrocuted by touching any part of the elevator.
2. General elevator failures such as where a person moves while the doors are open causing serious injuries such as amputations and decapitations.
If you are ever stuck in an elevator, you need to remain calm and take deep breaths until help comes. You can also call the emergency team using the available call or help button. If you have your phone with you, make a few calls or texts to anyone who can help. However, if you have sustained any injuries, it’s ideal to contact a personal injury attorney.