Accident Report Detail
Accident Summary Nr: 170664395 - EMPLOYEE IN CAR FELL DOWN OPEN ELEVATOR SHAFT
Inspection Nr | Date Opened | SIC | NAICS | Establishment Name |
---|---|---|---|---|
102908613 | 02/03/1997 | 7521 | 0 | Carousel Parking Co. |
Abstract: Some employees were working in a five-story parking garage. The garage had two elevators, one on the north end and one on the south end, that were used by the employees to transport the vehicles from one parking level to another. The elevator on the north end of the garage had swinging doors that were interlocked so as to remain closed when the elevator platform was not present. The south-end elevator had bi-parting doors and was more difficult to operate than the swinging-door elevator. Because of this, the bi-parting doors were bypassed, and an automatic safety gate system had been installed. The safety gate would shut automatically when the elevator platform was not present. However, the safety gate had easy-to-reach bypass switches installed on each floor. The employees used these switches to bypass the safety gates, and the gates would remain open even when the elevator platform was not present. At around 8:15 one morning, when the garage was very busy, four parking attendants entered the south-end elevator. Two of them got off on the second floor. The safety gate for this floor had been bypassed because it was the busiest floor. Another attendant got out of the elevator on the fifth floor, and the last employee started returning the elevator to the second floor to pick up the two attendants there, who would be ready with their vehicles. One of the parking attendants on the second floor was backing up a Saab with a manual transmission. It was only his third day on the job at this site. The Saab was about 4.6 meters from the elevator opening and was traveling in that direction. The car, which was not moving very quickly, started to buck, and the parking attendant backed it into the open elevator shaft. The vehicle and the employee fell about 11 meters to the bottom of the shaft. The car flipped over and landed atop the employee. The employee died of injuries sustained in the accident.
Employee # | Inspection Nr | Age | Sex | Degree of Injury | Nature of Injury | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 102908613 | Fatality | Other | Parking lot attendants |