Incident Involving Crash of Passenger Lift

 

A passenger lift crashed on 25 September 2011 at a shopping complex in Selayang. Due to the incident a passenger, who is pregnant, had suffered a broken leg. Investigation found that the elevator had stopped at Level G and the door was opened. Then it closed again before the elevator suddenly moved down and crashed to Level LG. After the crash, the lift position is about 300-500 mm from Level LG floor. According to a witness, about 12 passengers consist of senior citizens, adults and children were in the lift when the incident occurred. However, there was no damage to the lift car due to the incident.

Safety recommendations:

1. Certified lift maintenance company appointed by the building owner should ensure that lift is always in good, safe and serviceable condition.

2. Inspection, repair and periodic maintenance on electrical and electronic component such as relays, and signalling switches at the controller box in the machine room should be conducted thoroughly. This is crucial to ensure that the lift is operating safely and properly.

3. Any renovation on lift car should be carried out correctly and safely according to the procedure. Relevant parties should be informed so that re-examination of the lift can be done, if necessary.

4. Notes and correspondence on renovation or improvements on lift car should be recorded and maintained by lift maintenance company appointed by the building owner. The record should be kept properly and submitted to department officer to be reviewed and inspected upon request.

5. Safety devices such as governor and overload sensor switches must be installed and adjusted as per manufacturer’s specification and able to function accordingly.

6. All landing doors must be installed with standard key mechanism that can only be opened by lift technician using key supplied by lift manufacturer.

7. Lift Car and counterweight should be adjusted in order to follow and comply with the design standard of lift machinery.

8. Efforts to rescue entrapped passenger inside lift car should be carried out by trained and experienced technician.