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IT could well be the stuff horror movies are made of. Only in this case, it was a real life tragedy. A 35-year-old resident, Hitoshi Nikaidoh, was decapitated by a malfunctioning elevator at a hospital in Houston, Texas, where he worked. Even as he stepped on to the elevator on the second floor, the lift doors suddenly closed, pinning his shoulder and as the elevator moved up, it severed his head, much to the horror of his colleagues. Back home, we have had equally horrifying tragedies. In March 2003, a senior officer of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Vipin Handa, was killed at the agency’s headquarters in the CGO Complex in Delhi. According to reports, he was in the lift with three other officers. While they got out, Mr Handa was trapped and the lift suddenly hurled to the ground floor, killing him. That same year, a seven-year-old girl died in an apartment complex in Chennai because the lift gates opened midway, even before it reached the lift floor, resulting in the girl falling to her death.. In July 2005, a 56-year-old woman died in an elevator accident in an apartment building in Adyar, Chennai. According to reports, as she was about to alight from the lift, she slipped and fell and just at that time, the lift moved, dragging her down and crushing her to death. In December the same year, five mill workers in a mill in Lower Parel, Mumbai were seriously injured when the lift in which they were travelling, suddenly came crashing down. Poor inspection and maintenance and inadequate safety measures have made travelling in lifts a risky business. Add to this, an unreliable power supply and you have the complete dismal picture. I have often got stuck in lifts and what I find is invariably there is no telephone in the lift for emergencies. Even where they are provided, they do not function. And the only emergency provision is an alarm, which when pressed rings somewhere in the building. If it is not heard or if there is no one around at that particular time, then there is no help. Some of the lifts do not even have emergency lights. So much so that if because of power failure the lift stops midway between floors and you are caught in it, you will be in pitch darkness and there is not even a glow sign to enable you to see the emergency switch. The floor outside the lift (wherever it stops) as well as inside should be slip-proof so that one does not slip and fall. Likewise, elevators should align well with floors when they stop or else when the doors open, people could easily trip and fall. In fact this area should be properly illuminated. The doors of the elevators have to have sensors that ensure that the doors do not close if there is somebody or some object in the doorway. And if the door is not shut, the elevator should not move. Since it is said that variations in electric voltage reaching some of the elevator components can also cause problems, this is another area that needs to be taken care of . In the absence of these essential safety measures, lifts can become dangerous. Remember the case that came up before the apex consumer court some time ago. Mr Ashok Kumar Arora, who ran his business in a shop situated on the second floor of Kamdhenu Market, Ahmedabad, suffered fractures in both his legs when the rope of the lift installed in the market snapped and the lift cabin went hurling down. For seven months, Arora was incapacitated and subsequently he was certified as suffering from 29.5 per cent permanent disability. In response to his complaint, the apex consumer court awarded him a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent calculated from October 17, 1992 (the day Mr Arora met with the accident), till the date of payment. It also awarded costs assessed at Rs 5,000 (FA NO 276 of 1999). One can certainly haul up those responsible for the quality of lifts, their maintenance and their safety, before the consumer courts and seek compensation in case of such accidents. But why should there be such accidents and suffering at all in the first place? It’s time those who live in apartment blocks that have lifts and those who work in buildings that have elevators demanded better accountability from those who manufacture and maintain them. It is equally important to ensure that lifts that do not have all modern safety features and those that have outlived their existence are replaced and laws and regulations pertaining to elevator safety, stringently enforced. |
