Passengers Stalled Between Floors in a Hydraulic Elevator
You are called to a three-stop hydraulic elevator in a Maryland office building. The car is stalled about 3 ft below the second-floor landing with four passengers inside. The building superintendent has already inserted a drop key into the second-floor hall door and wants to pry the doors open so the passengers can climb out. The passengers are calm, there is no smoke or fire, and the car light is on. The machine room is unlocked and the elevator is not tagged out. The superintendent says, “The last mechanic just lowered it from the machine room and let them out at the landing.” You have one helper and no radio communication inside the car.
1. What are your first actions on arrival, and what should you stop the superintendent from doing?
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First, stop the superintendent from prying the hall doors. Opening a hall door at a landing where the car is not present creates a fall hazard into the hoistway and can also damage the door interlocks. Establish communication with the passengers through the closed door, confirm that everyone is uninjured and calm, and tell them to stay inside the car. Secure the area: place barricades, prevent other people from using the drop key, and control the landing. Lock out and tag the elevator disconnect in the machine room before any manual operation. Verify the car position, the hydraulic power unit condition, the oil level, and the brake. Call your supervisor and follow the company’s emergency evacuation procedure. The superintendent’s story about the last mechanic is not a procedure; manual lowering must be done by trained, licensed personnel from the machine room under controlled conditions.
2. How do you decide between evacuating at the landing and manually lowering the car?
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The decision depends on the car position and the safe access available. If the car floor is close enough to a landing that the car door and hall door can be opened safely with the car present, and if the door can be opened without forcing the interlock, evacuation at the landing may be appropriate under the company procedure. Here the car is about 3 ft below the second-floor landing, so the car floor is not aligned with the landing and passengers should not climb up or down through the gap. The safer method is manual lowering from the machine room: confirm the passengers are seated or positioned away from the door, verify the manual lowering valve and brake, lower the car slowly to the nearest landing, and then open the doors only when the car is aligned and secured. Do not use the drop key to open a hall door with no car at that landing. If the car cannot be lowered safely, if there is a hydraulic leak, or if the passengers are in distress, call the fire department and keep them inside the car.
3. What must be documented after the evacuation, and what follow-up is required before the elevator returns to service?
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Document the time of the call, the car position, the number of passengers, their condition, the communication provided, the method used to lower or evacuate, the names of the personnel involved, and the final car position at the landing. Record that the superintendent was instructed not to pry the doors and that the machine room was secured. After evacuation, the elevator must remain out of service until the cause of the stall is found. Check the hydraulic power unit, valve, oil level, motor starter, and door operation; verify that the car levels properly and that the emergency lowering procedure worked as intended. Test the alarm and communication means. If the machine room was left unlocked, correct that condition and notify the building owner. Return the elevator to service only after the repair and tests are complete and the required inspection or notification is made.