Home Forums General Discussion Safety Talk Another Death

Another person killed today in New York!!!! As a women stepped onto the elevator at her work the car ran up with her in the opening, crushing her to death. Another tragedy, another instance of an elevator moving with the doors open. This is the nightmare of every competent elevator professional. When will unintended movement protection devices be mandated? When will we, as elevator professionals, speak out and declair that most of these accidents could be avoided by the use of existing technology. I am the inventor of the Time out Jumper, a device that has been available to our industry for over two years that would end jumper left behind accidents. Sadly my device has been ignored by the vast majority of our industry. Not even a mention as an option in the jumper safety programs that are mandatory yearly safety topics! And at the same time the manufacturers of elevator controllers strive to produce a jumperless product because they fully understand how dangerous misused or forgotten jumpers can be. I applaued their efforts, but with the vast majority of elevators being jumper dependant, the jumper will be part of every techicians kit for years to come. Speak out! Teach the new guys the safe way! Live to collect your pention! Protect the public!

Amen, brother!
Kudos to you for inventing the time-out jumper. Did you sell the idea, or are you marketing them yourself? Might wanna write to Debra Tudor in Ca, head of the State Elevator Unit.

If rope grippers and door restrictors were made retroactive to existing installations, many lives could be saved.

You guy's don't even know the facts of the accident. It just happened! You already assume a jumper was left on a controller. I will say, we most likely will never know the TRUE cause! I agree this is BAD for our trade....Does anyone know the type of controls in this building! Original or Mod!

Swift controller/geerless machine
And lets not jump to any conclusions about jumpers.
It's a sad and unfortunate accident that is being investigated.

I agree selfproclaimed....

I completely agree. I think code should require door lock monitoring on all existing equipment as well as new. Anytime car door is on open limit, door lock and gate circuit should be out. If not, (and car is not on inspection) shut down car ! This is such an easy and cheap circuit to add to older units that don't already have it. It wouldn't address all scenarios, but would go a long way.

Please reread my post I do not know how this accident occured and agree most of the time we will never learn the truth. My main point is that if unintended motion protection was mandated these accidents would stop. If they were caused by jumpers-- loss of traction or broken drive machine. The other point I was trying to make is the fact that safety devices like my jumper are not even being taught as an added option to jumper safety! I teamed up with Wurtec to get this product to market to help prevent injury and death.

Sorry Dan, I guess I read into your post alittle. I'm personally woundn't use the time-out jumper. I even feel the 4" restrictor causes more problems than good. I do think the ascending car protection is long overdue...Just my opinion!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/nyregi...-says.html?_r=1

please look at this

I do not understand why a safety improvement would be undesirable. A jumper that times out is obviosly safer than one that does not.

They still have no idea what the cause was? Your assuming a jumper. If a jumper is left on a control for even 1 seconds with car in service it can kill someone depending on what is jumped. And if it were the doorlocks (2) jumpers may have had to be used. Gaining control of the unit is the protocol and I would think never jumping out doorlocks while car is in automatic or full service! If you just put a car back into service? And the time-out jumper was programmed for 15 minutes....If you get killed on that unit 10 minutes later? Are you any less dead!Have you met ever possible safety protocol.The answer is NO! You left the time-out jumper on. Procedures are what keep you safe not thinking your covered because your using a timed out jumper. You are right in this case it may have prevented a death...I agree.

Either way, I feel very sorry for the the lady and her family. Can't imagine how the mechanic is feeling if it was human error. A very sad situation!

Let me say again I do not know what caused this accident. And i agree that proper proceadures are the only way to prevent accidents. The intent of the Time Out Jumper is not to bypass any current training or safety protacol but to add one more level of protection for the public and mechanics who work on elevators. When you have spent 4 years and blood sweat and tears to help protect the public and my brothers in our trade to see anyone hurt is personal to me. And considering another man may be sentenced to 25 years in jail for the misuse of a jumper I will do my best to help fellow elevator men to be protected from what could be an honest mistake. Anyone who has been in a machine room at 4AM with sick kids at home and another call to go can make a mistake. If I can help one family I will try.

Funny how the IUEC pushes for a license and mentions how only Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo require elevator men to have a license. That in itself is a joke. Every single mechanic and helper were grandfathered in and handed licenses in Syracuse, The only people who take the actual test are the people who hold installers licenses, which someone in the company must hold in order to do work in Syracuse. Yes, I hold an installers license, and while at TKE, every employee worked under my license. Wonder what kind of lawsuit I was looking at if some grandfathered idiot at TKE killed someone while working under my license? Just another way for the IUEC to try to keep independent non-union companies out. Try actually maintaining elevators and doing quality work, maybe that will help. Bet this post lasts 5 minutes.

Do you think that the push for licensed elevator mechanics would push out the independants?

Why?

Anyone can take the test. If you are knowledgeable in the elevator field you'll pass. I too hold an installers license but check the work of others working under my license. Also, everyone must be licensed to work... passed the state test.

Having licensed elevator mechanics and annual testing done correctly can only improve the safety of the riding public and would be a giant step in the right direction.

Monthly safety meetings are also a big plus. They constantly remind us of how critical our jobs are and how dangerous they can be if the correct procedures are not followed.

I don't see your point about how the IUEC trying to pass this safety bill is an attempt to push out the independants. It is to put everyone, union or non union on the same page when it comes to safety and knowledge.The grandfathering of mechanics and helpers was probably done based upon experience and years in the business but was a start. Anyone new coming into the field won't be handed a license, they would have to be tested.

Quality work in maintaining elevators is the top priority. We must all work safe and stay focused.Don't worry about the supervisors asking when you're going to be finished. Do the job correctly and safely then move on.Too many times we are pushed to move faster and thats the problem.

VerticalTechNY well bet lost! I think a union card in your pocket doesnt make anyone a better mechanic than someone without. I aslo think that the ability to pass a test doesn't make a person qualified to work on public transportation either. I wouldnt want a surgeon with only book experience cutting on me. It takes years of school and traing by competent mechanics, union or non-union, to be qualified to be on your own.

That being said, I would like to clear up the intent of the Timeout Jumper. It is to end one very specific type of problem. A jumper left behind, forgotten for whatever reason. The Timeout Jumper is just as dangerous as any other jumper while the circuit is jumped out. AND all current jumper safety practices HAVE to remain. Now if a stanard jumper is left behind the safety circuit will remain defeated until a person finds it and removes it, which could be days, weeks or months. But with the Time Out Jumper the safety circuit will return as designed when the programmed time expires, even though the actual jumper is still attached. Currently, if a jumper is found there is no way to know the intent of the person who left it behind. If the Time Out Jumper is mandated in our business any time a regular jumper is found defeating safety circuits it should be immediate dismissal. If injury or death occured the full force of the law should be brought upon that person. I hope this clears up the intent of my earlier posts. Work safe.

I can feel your intent Dan. And it's hard to argue safety in our industry. The majors may soon be calling since this accident and the one in Southern California are brought to national attention. It's funny to read the posts about the accident in NY and see how unfamiliar people are with our business and what the units will and won't do. We talk so much in this thread about safety, yet the major companies want less service and more SRM,REM or what ever remote monitoring device can be used. Good Luck with your product, the phone maybe ringing soon.

i personally like the idea of a timeout jumper. many factors can make a mechanic forget they have applied 1, with pressure from a stuck with passenger call to supervisor and building manager pressure. having said that this is where we mechanics have to be assertive and say no we have not finished and when im done i will let you know.also under no circumstance should you short both locks when alone on site no matter what pressure your under. this should only be done via maintenace speed and with your mate on the level of the lift as you would when you have to kick the lift below or above floor levels. this is something that when we had licenses(here in melbourne aus wwe have been deregulated ie no licenses to new mechanic after about '95') that was drummed into us. just on licenses im surprised you guys havent got these as with the level of code oversight i would've thought this would be standard.otis also used to do tool box talks just to remind procedures including these(prob still do).

i thought the best idea out was the safety string test plugs on the otis gem's. keep the jumpers in the bag. for those that haven't seen this its a plug that is in the normal position, then if you needed to jump out the pit circuit you would put the controller on inspection and remove the plug and plug it into the pit or car or limits position and run the car. the car would only go back into service with the plug in the normal position.

i had left otis by then but from what ive heard they are good. but you have a mix of units so you still need shorts. maybe another way also is to have a sign fixed to the inside of the motorroom door that you can switch saying 'attn short attached to lift' or something similar to remind the tech.