What (and Not) to Do when Stuck in an Elevator

When an elevator suddenly lurches to a stop between floors, the typical gut response among passengers is to panic and think about what actions to take to most quickly get out. For many reasons, primary among them being safety, the best thing to do is the exact opposite: Stay calm. Know that the car will not free-fall. Don’t jump up and down or attempt to pry open the doors. Don’t try to escape through the hatch. Instead, use the emergency phone and wait for help. Publicly-available accounts and data show that escape attempts can result in severe injury, sometimes fatal.

During a recent year, New York City’s Department of Buildings reported that 51 people were injured and five died when trapped riders tried to save themselves. Municipal governments are undertaking campaigns to educate the riding public to the proper procedures during entrapment, such as New York City’s “Stay Safe - Stay Put” public awareness campaign – using broadcast ads, print ads, bus shelter messages and a public service video – to encourage riders to remain in stalled cars and wait for help.

As a service to building owners and managers, and other D&D Elevator Maintenance customers, D&D has prepared a comprehensive Safety Guide for Entrapped Passengers, which may be viewed online here and printed as a hard copy for provision to superintendents, co-op/condo boards, etc., for their review and appropriate distribution to tenants.

Download Elevator Safety Guide - 50 kb pdf

With NYC DOB, Appendix K3, Rule 3.10.2, the New York City Department of Buildings has mandated that – by January 1, 2020 – “all automatic passenger and freight elevators must provide a system to monitor and prevent automatic operation with faulty door contact circuits.”

For reasons of safety and code compliance, it is imperative for this 01/01/20 deadline to be met, for the system to be installed, tested and inspected. If it is not installed and operational by this time, the DOB will be issuing fines and possibly shutting down your elevator(s).

In mid-2018, we began notifying our NYC customers of this mandate and deadline. We sent proposals individually tailored to each customer’s elevator equipment, followed by several email reminders and phone calls. Time is now of the essence – material and permit lead times are 10-12 weeks from receipt of signed proposals and required deposits.

D&D Can Help!

At this time we cannot guarantee that these will be installed by the deadline, but we will do all we can for our NYC customers. If you have not done so already, we urge you to please submit your signed proposal and deposit so that we may schedule your elevator(s). We welcome your calls with any questions you may have, (914) 347-4344.

Prepare your elevators for Summer!

With the warm weather season now upon us, there are a number of important items requiring attention, to ensure that your systems are properly prepared for the Summer heat.

Of vital importance is to check the ambient temperature of elevator machinery spaces in your building. Current code regulations require proper ventilation of machinery spaces and temperature control within a range as specified by equipment manufacturers.

According to a National Institute of Standards and Technology report titled “High Temperature Operation of Elevators,” systems operate best when their machine rooms are maintained between 60 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Machine room air temperatures outside this range can lead to equipment failure.

Steps to prevent costly downtime and unhappy tenants

• Make sure that your motor room air conditioning and exhaust fans are in proper working order and that thermostat controls are properly maintaining ambient temperature
• Make sure that ventilation ducts, wall and motor room door vents are working normally and that there are no obstructions limiting the flow of air
• Make sure your elevator interior exhaust fan is working and that it is running during hotter Summer days

Brownouts & Blackouts

During heat waves, there is vastly increased demand for electricity, which can cause momentary power loss, a reduction in voltage and longer-term power outages. In such event, best practice is to remove the elevator from service and immediately notify your elevator company.

• Top priority: During a power outage make sure that persons using the elevators in your building are not trapped or in need of assistance  
• Momentary loss of power can cause the elevator to stop, the doors to malfunction, or the system to attempt to reset by skipping floors and moving to the terminal landings
• A reduction or fluctuation in voltage can cause intermittent failures of components, which will momentarily stop the elevator or doors from operating. Such “ghost calls” can be problematic since, by the time technicians arrive on site, the voltage may have returned to proper levels and they cannot see the problem in progress. It is important to report these intermittent failures to the technicians to avoid any inconvenience to the riding public.
• Brownouts are a normal recurring issue during the hot summer season. If you are experiencing a brown out, you must check the elevator equipment to ensure it is working properly. Brownouts can cause major damage to motors and motor control equipment. “Single Phasing” of 3 phase electrical equipment will cause motors to burn out and contactors to weld closed.

D&D Can Help!

The experts at D&D Elevator stand ready to evaluate your particular needs, assist you with preventative maintenance and respond to you immediately in the event of emergency. In the meanwhile, stay cool!