Elevator problems found in Manhattan building where malfunctioning elevator crushed woman
Officials found numerous elevator violations in the building where ad exec Suzanne Hart died last month in a tragic elevator accident.
Suzanne Hart, 41-year-old Director of New Business Content & Experience at the advertising firm Y&R, died the morning of December 14, 2011 after the elevator she was boarding on her way to her midtown Manhattan office lurched upward with the doors open, crushing her between the elevator car and the wall of the shaft.
An investigation by the New York City Department of Buildings immediately focused on the maintenance records after they learned Transel Elevator Inc., the company that holds the elevator maintenance contract, serviced the elevator just hours before the malfunction caused Hart’s death.
DNAinfo.com reported that Transel technicians replaced computer equipment and recalibrated electrical equipment earlier that day.
After the incident, the buildings department closed the building pending an inspection of all thirteen of the building’s elevators. While the cause of the elevator’s malfunction is yet to be determined, the elevator in question and a few other elevators lacked a certificate of compliance, a problem with their paperwork.
However, the New York Post obtained a report by the buildings department showing there was an “epidemic” of serious elevator violations at the building. Immediately after the tragic accident that killed Hart, buildings department inspectors wrote eleven violations against thirteen of the building’s elevators.
Among the violations:
- A misalignment of a hoist cable that could result in the cable slipping off the pulley
- A jumper wire on a controller that bypassed safety features
- Failure to conduct annual testing on some of the elevators as required
- The use of nails instead of cotter pins in counterweight shackles
- Eccentrics, parts of elevator sliding door mechanism, missing on elevator doors of the top fifteen floors
- Improper clamps on cables
Seven of the building department violations were Class 1 in severity, meaning “immediately hazardous” and four listed as Class 2 “major violation.”
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