A not-so-pleasant experience in the urban world today is getting trapped in an elevator. Since electricity is the main source of power for these machines, power outages may result in elevator entrapments. Elevator passengers may panic because of sudden enclosure – no lights, no movement, and little space. People may feel suffocated and anxiety starts to seep in. Elevator entrapments are not very easy to solve because it does happen very rarely, and not much awareness and training is done to deal with this unfortunate event.
Many elevator manufacturers today are reinforcing safety equipment and measures to elevator facilities, as outlined by state and federal rules and regulations. It is strongly recommended that these measures must be implemented and administered by qualified elevator technicians. However, building administrators have also the responsibility to implement their own safety measures in case of elevator entrapment.
Elevators must be equipped with emergency lights and phones so that whenever there are passengers entrapped, they can still see in the dark, and call the admin security. It is also strongly recommended to install elevator-lowering devices using battery back-ups that will activate automatically when power goes out. This way, passengers can still exit and avoid being entrapped. If your building has its own generator during a power outage, the generator can be used as a power supply for the elevator as well.
Elevators must also have safety warnings posted inside to warn the passengers what to do when power goes out. Inform the passengers to activate any alarm systems right away, and never force the doors open to escape. Calmness and cooperation must be ensured to avoid any panic, and passengers must not do any attempts to escape at all. Building administrators must always be ready to communicate with entrapped elevator passengers in case of power outage so that elevator technicians can take charge right away in providing a safe exit for them.
Having these elevator safety tips during entrapment will reduce any chance of injury and will promote greater elevator safety in the long run. Communicating these safety tips to building personnel, elevator technicians and personnel must be met in order to avoid further unpleasant experiences from a power outage entrapment.