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Tag Archives: Elevators
Hospitality Industry Maintenance Update: “Hotel & Building Maintenance Tips”
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Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Florida Hotel Faces Serious “OSHA Safety Violations” After Death Of Worker Crushed By Elevator; Lacked “Written Lockout/Tagout Procedures”
“…(the Hotel management company)Â had faced $23,000 in proposed fines for three serious and two other-than-serious alleged violations, 
according to the citations…RIA-Tradewinds allegedly lacked a written lockout/tagout procedure for the hotel’s elevators, the employee authorized to lockout/tagout the elevator involved in the death didn’t do so, and there was no coordination of lockout/tagout procedures with Progressive Environmental. The two other-than-serious violations involved the lack of documentation for lockout/tagout procedures and training…”
Two companies face $84,000 in proposed fines over the death of a worker in Florida who was crushed by an elevator car while cleaning the bottom of an elevator shaft, according to citations released Nov. 4 by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The citations, dated Oct. 15, allege the two companies failed to coordinate their lockout/tagout procedures and that employees lacked required lockout/tagout training.
The worker, Mark Allen Johnson, 45, of Tampa, was employed by Progressive Environmental Services, doing business as SWS Environmental Services of Panama City Beach, according to OSHA and police reports. He died April 24 while cleaning oily water from the bottom an elevator shaft at a St. Petersburg Beach hotel. The hotel, Tradewinds Island Grand Beach Resort, is managed by RIA-Tradewinds Inc., according to the citations.
OSHA cited Progressive Environmental for one repeat and four serious alleged violations carrying proposed fines of $61,000.
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Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Alabama Hotel Sued By Guest Trapped In Elevator; “Sustained Injuries During Escape From Broken Machinery”
“…(plaintiff) and several others became entrapped in the hotel’s elevator…(she claimed) the hotel didn’t respond to the emergency call which resulted in two male guests in the elevator prying the door open and 
creating an opening to escape…hotel administrators pulled King by the legs through the opening resulting in her falling and suffering physical injuries…”
An Alabama resident is suing a local Marriott-owned hotel after allegedly being trapped in an elevator and sustaining injuries during an escape from the broken machinery. Maureen A. King filed a lawsuit against Marriott Hotel Services, Inc., Renaissance Hotel Management Company, LLC, Renaissance Hotel Operating Company, Sodexo, Inc. and John Doe in the Orleans Parish Central District Court.
The defendant is accused of failing to respond to the emergency elevator alarm, pulling petitioner from the elevator and causing her to fall and failing to seek emergency assistance.
An unspecified amount is sought for past medical expenses, future medical expenses, past lost wages, future lost wages, pain and suffering and mental anguish.
For more:Â http://louisianarecord.com/news/248516-renaissance-pere-marquette-hotel-blamed-for-injuries-sustained-by-guest-stuck-in-elevator
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Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Multistory Hotels Face Increased Fire Risk From "Elevator Lift Shafts" That Provide "Ready Pathway For Toxic Smoke And Fire" To Travel Upwards
“…lift shafts provide a ready pathway for smoke and fire to travel upwards in multi-storey buildings. Buoyant fire gases in a lift shaft can quickly fill upper floors, and there is much evidence to suggest that the majority 
of fatalities in such fires occur on higher floors significantly removed from the seat of the fire…”
Fires involving lift shafts pose particular risk in hotels where there can be large numbers of people, some of whom may be elderly or infirm, and in an unfamiliar place. In 2007 alone, it’s estimated that one in 12 hotels and motels in the USA suffered a structural fire.Â
That was certainly true in 1980 MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas which claimed 84 lives, the worst disaster in Nevada history. In that incident, while the fire primarily only damaged the second floor, most of the deaths occurred on the upper floors, with elevator shafts and stairwells allowing toxic smoke to spread upwards.
It’s hard to overestimate the impact this fire had on both our understanding of vertical fire movement and on the building regulations to mitigate against fire risk. The fire in a garment factory in a tall building claimed 146 lives, and directly led to new laws on building access and egress, fire proofing requirements, the availability of fire extinguishers, the installation of alarm systems and automatic sprinklers.
Under current fire safety legislation it is the responsibility of the person(s) having responsibility for the building to provide a fire safety risk assessment that includes an emergency evacuation plan for all people likely to be in the premises, including disabled people, and how that plan will be implemented. Such an evacuation plan should not rely upon the intervention of the Fire and Rescue Service to make it work.
For more:Â http://www.glassonweb.com/news/index/16822/
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Filed under Fire, Guest Issues, Health, Injuries, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Property Risks: New York Elevator Mechanic Dies When Electrocuted During Maintenance Work Near Control Panel
“…(He) was performing maintenance in the engine room on the ninth floor of the Axa Equitable building …when he was electrocuted just after 9:30 p.m…” Â
Con Edison was called to the scene for safety reasons, an agency spokesman said, but it was unclear how the man came into contact with live wires in the room that houses a control panel and a riser that works to operate the building’s 34 elevators.
A 39-year-old elevator mechanic died when he was electrocuted at work in a 44-story midtown office building Wednesday night, fire and police officials said. Emergency responders found the repairman unconscious and in cardiac arrest, a fire official said. But he died less than 30 minutes later, according to a police source.
“He’s dead,†a fire source at the scene said. “He was lying on live wires.â€
Building workers said the man had been employed for the past five years by the Schindler Group – a company that develops, installs and services elevators and escalators, according to its website – which contracts with the building to supply in-house mechanics to keep up with repairs.
“He has three kids, it’s horrible,†said one coworker said. “He was a very nice guy. He was hardworking and smart,†he said of his fallen friend. “But no one knows what happened.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mechanic-electrocuted-elevator-manhattan-office-building-article-1.1052532#ixzz1qWQmFsvr
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Hospitality Industry Property Risks: New York Hotel's "Fatal Elevator Accident" Caused By Service Company's "Maintenance Errors"
Maintenance workers failed to enable a door safety circuit on an elevator moments before an advertising executive was killed after stepping into the elevator in an office tower in Midtown Manhattan, according to officials from the city’s Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigations.
According to officials, the workers did three things wrong:
- They never re-enabled the safety circuit after performing the upgrade and restoring the elevator to normal service.
- They did not post a warning that work was being performed, as required under the city’s building code.
- They did not call the Buildings Department for an inspection, as legally required, before putting the elevator back into service.
If the circuit had been working properly, officials said, it would most likely have prevented the elevator from moving abruptly and pinning the executive, Suzanne Hart, inside an elevator shaft. As a result, the Buildings Department is suspending the license of the owner of the maintenance company, Transel Elevator, that performed the work and will seek to have the license revoked.
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Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Texas Hotel Sued By Family Of Housekeeper Who Died Falling Down Service Elevator Shaft; State Required Inspection Two-Weeks Overdue
“…Gloria Rodriguez, 65, had been an employee at the Crockett Hotel for 12 years when she fell six stories down the service elevator shaft Dec. 28. The elevator’s state-required annual inspection was more than two weeks overdue 
at the time…”
The family of a Crockett Hotel housekeeper who plunged to her death down an open elevator shaft last month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Named in the suit are New Jersey-based Otis Elevator Company and 1859-Historic Hotels Ltd., a Galveston-based company that owns the Crockett Hotel and the nearby Menger Hotel in downtown San Antonio.
“Based upon current information, it is believed that she attempted to get on the elevator but when the doors opened there was no elevator, causing her to fall,†Houston-based attorney James Hada wrote in the suit, filed Wednesday.
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Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Texas Hotel "Service Elevator" Malfunctions Resulting In Housekeeper's Fatal Six Story Fall
In Texas, licensed inspectors must check elevators annually. The service elevator at the Crockett Hotel was installed in 1981 and its last annual inspection was in December 2010, according to the most recent records on file with the licensing department. Elevator inspector William McPherson did not note any concerns in his report.
In a 2008 inspection report, McPherson wrote that the service elevator needed a door restrictor — a device that prevents elevator doors opening when an elevator is stuck between floors. It prevents occupants from falling out of the elevator down the shaft, and from being injured if the elevator moves while they try to climb out.
The state’s chief elevator inspector will investigate a fatal incident at the Crockett Hotel, where a housekeeper fell six stories down the shaft of a service elevator Wednesday evening.
Brendel said the elevator was regularly maintained and inspected. He told police that the hotel “had been having problems with the elevators,†but they had been serviced and were working properly, according to a San Antonio police report.
The death stunned Rodriguez’s family, who described her as a warm, kind-hearted woman. She left behind four children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Family members say they have not received any explanation from hotel management about the cause of the death. Gloria Rodriguez’s daughter, Sara Ochoa, said the elevator had frozen with an employee inside it a few days ago, and it had gotten stuck in the past.
Lawrence Taylor, chief inspector for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which oversees elevator safety, was traveling to San Antonio on Thursday to investigate, department spokeswoman Susan Stanford said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that enforces safety standards for workers, also is investigating the incident.
Brendel said he couldn’t remember if the restrictor had been installed. But in a 2009 letter sent to state officials, he wrote that the hotel was planning to install one. More recent inspection reports did not find any problems regarding the door restrictor.
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Hospitality Industry Guest Safety: New York Hotel Elevator Malfunctions "Killing Hotel Guest" Hours After "Electrical Maintenance Repairs"
“…Electrical maintenance work was being performed on an elevator just hours before it malfunctioned, killing an advertising executive in Midtown…”
Photo by Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
“…The last fatal elevator accident in the city also involved Transel: Robert Melito, 44, a technician for the company, was servicing an elevator on the 10th floor of a building at 230 West 38th Street on Sept. 23 when he fell to his death…”
Suzanne Hart, 41, was crushed to death on Wednesday morning after the elevator she was stepping into lurched upward, pinning her between the outside of the car and the wall of the elevator shaft.
Mr. Sclafani said the department would be conducting citywide sweeps of elevators maintained by Transel Elevator Inc., the company that serviced the elevators at 285 Madison Avenue, where the accident occurred.
The company maintains elevators at nearly a dozen prominent buildings in the city, according to Transel’s Web site, including the Graybar Building, the BMW Building and the Hippodrome Building. Additional clients listed on the Web site include Carnegie Hall and the Plaza Hotel.
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Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Arizona Hotel's Elevator "Free-Falls" Several Floors Injuring Female Guest
“…Right after the second-floor button lit up, she heard a loud noise and the elevator went into a free-fall mode…The elevator hit the ground. The woman broke her right ankle, and possibly her left ankle, too…” Â
A woman suffered broken bones after the elevator she was riding in fell several floors at a Phoenix hotel Saturday night, fire officials said. The woman, who was not identified, was riding up to the third floor at the Embassy Suites at I-17 and Greenway, according to Capt. Scott McDonald of the Phoenix Fire Department.
It was not immediately known what caused the elevator to fall.
For more:Â http://www.kpho.com/story/16185739/woman-hurt-in-falling-elevator
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