Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305353047 - Amtech Elevator Services

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:00 p.m. on December 1, 2003, an employee was performing maintenance on an elevator. He has been an elevator technician for 29 years and was working by himself. The building owner reported that the doors on elevator Number 1, were not working properly when at the fourth floor. The employee was checking the micro-switches. The four Dover elevators were installed in 1975, were fully automatic, and the call buttons were computerized. When a call button was pushed, a sensor activated a free car and sent it to the appropriate floor. The employee used the elevator key at the lobby wall panel to switch from automatic to inspection mode. He brought the elevator down to the fourth floor. On top of the cab were three buttons: automatic, inspection and the emergency stop. The employee got on top of the cab and pushed the inspection button. He was down on his right knee and had his left knee slightly up. His left leg was hanging over the cab past the perimeter of the car. He completed his repair on the switches and switched it back to automatic to see how the doors operated. The elevator was called and it went back into group service. The elevator went up. A bolt on the top sill punctured the top of the employees' thigh when the elevator stopped. He was hospitalized with a fractured leg. Two switches needed to be set on the inspection mode in order to lockout the elevator car. The employee had deactivated the exterior wall switch, but not the switch inside the elevator car.

Keywords: FRACTURE, MECHANIC, THIGH, CAUGHT BETWEEN, ELEVATOR, ELEVATOR SHAFT