The National Elevator Industry Inc., which is the leading authority on elevator safety, reports that approximately 10,000 people are injured in elevators each year.
The chance of you dying in an elevator is about one in 10.5 million which is a . 0000000958% chance. You have a higher chance of dying in a car accident, being struck by lightning, getting attacked by a shark and dying in a plane crash.
Despite their complexity, elevators and escalators are reliable pieces of equipment. A well-maintained elevator in commercial or residential environment will typically experience between 0.5 – 2 breakdowns in a year, of which 20% or 0.4 occurrences are mantraps (a person getting stuck inside a lift car).
The conclusion is that elevators are generally safer than stairs. However, it is still possible for injuries to occur in an elevator or staircase accident under certain circumstances.
According to a study published in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, there are approximately 10,000 escalator injuries that take place on the 35,000 escalators in the United States each year. And while there are 900,000 elevators in the United States, the total number of elevator injuries hovers around 7,000.
Fatal Elevator Accidents in the United States
An estimated 50 people die from elevator-related accidents annually in the United States. These fatalities can include falls due to malfunctioning doors or cages to entrapment between two floors caused by failure of the car's emergency brake system.
“The inside of an elevator is the safest place to be while the elevator is stopped,” EESF states.
MYTH - Some people believe that an overcrowded elevator will fall. TRUTH - An overloaded car will normally not move. The doors will stay open and a buzzer may ring until enough people get off of the elevator to reduce the weight.
First of all, elevators never plummet down their shafts. For the past century, elevators have had a backup break that automatically engages when an elevator starts to fall. If all the cables snapped (highly unlikely), the elevator would only fall a few feet before the safety breaks would activate.
Betty Lou Oliver, who holds the Guinness World Record for Longest Fall Survived in an Elevator, lived through falling 75 stories (more than 1,000 feet) in an Empire State Building elevator in 1945. Had she been lying on the floor, she probably would have been killed.
Most elevator phobias are a form of claustrophobia. Worldwide, nearly 4% of the population suffers from this type of anxiety.
Claustrophobia (Fear of Enclosed Spaces) Fear of confined spaces (claustrophobia) becomes a phobia when it interferes with your ability to function at work, school, or other daily activities. Common triggers include tunnels, elevators, trains and airplanes.
On 28 July 1945, a U.S. Army plane crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City, causing an elevator to fall 75 storeys (more than 300 meters or 1,000 feet). Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was injured but survived. It remains the Guinness World Record for the longest fall survived in an elevator.
There are approximately 900,000 elevators in the United States and the odds of getting stuck in an elevator are 1 in every 100,000 elevator ride.
Passengers can be struck and injured by a closing, sliding door. There could be broken door protection devices (electric eyes, safety edges, and detector edges). The closing force or speed may not be properly adjusted, or the door protection device doesn't react quickly enough to avoid passenger contact.
If you don't make it off the elevator by the time it reaches the top floor, don't worry – you won't actually be crushed to death in the gears as the lift makes its way back around. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.
[T]he best way to survive in a falling elevator is to lie down on your back. Sitting is bad but better than standing, because buttocks are nature's safety foam. Muscle and fat are compressible: they help absorb the G forces of the impact.
The 1/2 Lift Energy Saving Elevator is a lift that stops at half floors. For example, instead of stopping on the second floor, the elevator will stop between the second and third floor, and those who want to go to the second and third floor can get off here.
An elevator with one malfunction every two months is generally considered reliable. If there are weekly issues, this is a sign that current maintenance work is either insufficient or not occurring often enough.
Elevator's cables almost never snap. And if a cable did snap, there are backup cables attached. Even if all the cables snapped, an elevator still would not fall to the bottom floor. Elevators have a passive, automatic, built-in braking system.
Elevator Fact #1: Statistically speaking, elevators are the safest form of transportation. Traveling in a plane or riding your bicycle through a neighborhood are very safe, but you may be surprised to learn that elevator travel is safer than these by a longshot.
Elevators must comply with the safety codes of the American National Standards Institute, which protect passengers from accidents. For example, passenger elevators must have steel doors to withstand fire. The door must close before the car moves, and it cannot be opened if the car stops between floors.
The answer is yes, modern home elevators are very safe. With national safety codes, local building codes and extra safety measures, home elevators today are designed to ensure a high level of safety.