Woman Crushed By Elevator In Midtown (I have a question)

[Ballygrl]

Can someone explain how this happened? she walked in the elevator, the door closed and her leg got caught between the closing doors, but she was crushed, how did that happen? wouldn't you think her leg would be torn off as opposed to her being crushed?

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/elevator-plunges-in-midtown-manhattan-20111214-KC

Woman Crushed By Elevator In Midtown

BY KATHY CARVAJAL and LUKE FUNK

MYFOXNY.COM - A woman was crushed to death when an elevator she was stepping into suddenly ascended, trapping her between two floors.  The victim has been identified as Suzanne L. Hart, a 41-year-old marketing executive at advertising company Young and Rubicam.

The accident happened in a Midtown building that has a history of elevator violations.

The elevator, rose unexpectedly up a shaft at 285 Madison Avenue and E. 41st Street as Hart entered the elevator on the first floor.

"I heard screaming and I saw people running," one witness said.

Two other people who were in the elevator were treated for emotional trauma after witnessing the tragedy.

Y&R released a statement after the accident. It says, in part: "Our focus at this moment is the well-being of our employee's family and our larger Y&R family. As you can imagine, this is a great emotional shock to all."

Hart was Director of New Business, Content and Experience for Y&R.  She had been with the company since June 2007.

A former colleague said she was "truly a joy to work with."

It is not clear what caused the elevator to suddenly move rapidly at about 10 a.m.  A fire official says that if Hart had tried to enter the elevator one second earlier, or one second later, she would probably have lived through the horrific accident.

Emergency vehicles from the FDNY, NYPD and Buildings Dept. surrounded the entrance of the building in the aftermath of the accident.  Madison Ave. was closed between E. 40th Street and E. 42nd Street causing traffic problems across midtown.

Fox 5 News reported that, over the past decade, the building has had 56 violations with its elevators.  All of the complaints were dismissed, according to Buildings Department records.

A buildings department spokesman said the elevator was last inspected in June and no safety issues were found.

[franksolich]

I have a question too.

Once the woman's leg stopped the doors from moving to close all the way, why didn't the doors bounce back into their recesses then?

That's the way elevators work out here in Nebraska.

<<has never seen elevator doors that relentlessly close; if something stops them, they go back, and then try to close again.

[thundley4]

It wasn't the door that caused the injury.  The elevator car jumped upwards as she stepped into it.  Her body was caught between the floor of the car and the next floor above.  Pretty grizzly way to go.

[franksolich]

It wasn't the door that caused the injury.  The elevator car jumped upwards as she stepped into it.  Her body was caught between the floor of the car and the next floor above.  Pretty grizzly way to go.

Oh.

[Ballygrl]

It wasn't the door that caused the injury.  The elevator car jumped upwards as she stepped into it.  Her body was caught between the floor of the car and the next floor above.  Pretty grizzly way to go.

I must have a brain freeze because I can't picture this at all, are you saying her entire body was caught in between the closing doors? or just her leg? and if her entire body was caught between the doors she was dragged upward?

[franksolich]

.....and if her entire body was caught between the doors she was dragged upward?

That alas appears to be the case.

[Rainbow Rising]

The poor woman.  What an awful way to die.  It's like something out of a horror movie.

[Ballygrl]

That alas appears to be the case.

I thought it was just the leg that was caught. I feel bad for her obviously but I really feel bad for the 2 people who had to witness it, it took an hour to rescue them.

[catsmtrods]

I thought it was just the leg that was caught. I feel bad for her obviously but I really feel bad for the 2 people who had to witness it, it took an hour to rescue them.

Yeah I bet that was traumatic and stinky! Yikes!

[MrsSmith]

I have a question too.

Once the woman's leg stopped the doors from moving to close all the way, why didn't the doors bounce back into their recesses then?

That's the way elevators work out here in Nebraska.

<<has never seen elevator doors that relentlessly close; if something stops them, they go back, and then try to close again.

Sometimes the sensors on the doors fail.  I've heard of it a couple times before.  Somewhere in Oklahoma a few years ago, they failed on a hospital elevator and a doctor was killed.  It's pretty rare, so people aren't at all careful about elevators, they just trust they will never fail... 

[Eupher]

Well, the link in the OP says that this particular facility had a history of elevator violations. Despite the fact that the elevator was inspected this past June, that doesn't mean that the elevator inspector (who no doubt is contracted by NYC and thus expects to be paid for doing a generally shitty job) did what he was supposed to have done.

Elevator inspections and maintenance are only as good as those who inspect them and maintain them. I'd be looking at the performance of both of these guys to see if there's a history of corner-cutting.

Elevators have pretty rigorous design and inspection criteria ordinarily, which explains why they're generally very safe.

But in NYC with lots of elevators, there's lots of room for complacency.

[Wineslob]

Despite the fact that the elevator was inspected this past June, that doesn't mean that the elevator inspector (who no doubt is contracted by NYC and thus expects to be paid for doing a generally shitty job) did what he was supposed to have done.

I blame the Union.

[TVDOC]

Sounds to me like the door interlock failed......

There is a set of microswitches on each door that unless closed, will not allow the car to move.  It's not impossible to envision a bad switch, or one that is covered with gunk and stuck in the closed position, therefore not sensing that the doors are open.  In such a case, it would never be a problem unless someone didn't make it completely into the car when the doors close.

Interestingly, there are a similar set of switches on the doors that open them when summoned. but only when the car arrives at the floor, closing the switches.......if these fail, when summoned the doors will open allowing someone not paying attention to step into an empty shaft......messy.  Had that happen to me once in the Empire State Building.......fortunately I was paying attention.......

Complex electromechanical systems fail frequently.......however the inspection and building safety departments in NYC are infamous for corruption and accepting payoffs, and all work is (of course) union......

doc

[Evil_Conservative]

I have a question too.

Once the woman's leg stopped the doors from moving to close all the way, why didn't the doors bounce back into their recesses then?

That's the way elevators work out here in Nebraska.

<<has never seen elevator doors that relentlessly close; if something stops them, they go back, and then try to close again.

The elevators at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas DO NOT reopen if you put an object in front of the doors.  It was unsafe.  You had to run in/out of the elevator if you didn't want to be crushed.  We thought it was just one elevator, but we were on numerous ones all weekend (family was staying there), every single elevator at the Tropicana acted up.

[RightCoast]

A buddy of mine works for Otis in Manhattan, I asked him if he had any more details.

[Eupher]

A buddy of mine works for Otis in Manhattan, I asked him if he had any more details.

I'd be curious to see what he says. And if the union there has an overwhelming presence.

[RightCoast]

He's proud union, I won't even go there with him. But he'll tell me what happened as long as it wasn't one of his elevators.

[Ballygrl]

Thanks for the insight everyone because I was having a hard time understanding how this happened. We don't use elevators often but I told hubby we aren't just going to assume that the door will open when we try to sneak in, and also we're not going to assume that just because the door opens that the elevator is there and not the shaft.

[Gina]

Gonna have to email brother, he is a vp at Thyssen Krupp and he will have some info.

At least she didn't lose her head over it.