Strategy To Survive Elevator Fall
 

You and another person are in an elevator which is about to fall three floors

How do you brace yourself?

Do you stand with knees flexed to absorb the impact and sacrifice your ankles and legs?

Do you lay flat to distribute the kinetic energy on the largest possible area?

Do you lay on the other person to use their body as a crumple zone?

I want to Be Prepared.

I've heard that you lay flat, which might be OK unless the sudden stop 1 causes the ceiling or parts of the ceiling to impact you at whatever speed the elevator was falling in which case having your face and internal organs unprotected seems unwise.

The semi squat/crouch might be OK unless you're moving fast enough in which case you're likely screwed.

If you can get the other person to lay still and let you lay on them, that is likely to be the best option, but you probably want your head on their chest or something like that. You don't want to go knocking noggins or having your noggin wrap around their shoulder until it hits the floor.

A tight fetal position might not be a bad idea with one arm under your head and the other on top to protect it from falling debris.

The problem is that if the thing is in a freefall, you're going to be weightless, floating, until the elevator stops which is going to make it hard to get into any position.

THe reason that I say that is I used to work in a building in Houston that while I worked there, had one or two elevators do weird crap 3-4 times. The elevator went into freefall for a bit, I think once it was 3-4 floors, and then the brakes stopped it. In the case when it was several floors, IIRC one woman had a compound fracture of the lower leg afterwards.

I suppose the best case scenario is that the brakes are engaged but inadequate for some reason so you're descending REALLY fast, but not at terminal velocity.

I think your best option is to try to bend over and kiss your aß goodbye and pray that you get really lucky.

If it makes you feel better, falling elevator cars are basically impossible with the centrifugal brakes they have. I mean, I guess that one could fall really slowly and not activate the brake but then who cares?

Elevators can be extremely dangerous in certain situations but not from the car falling. The two most common ways that people die are both gruesome…one is that the doors open and there is no car and people step in anyway and fall to their death. The other one is worse…the car gets stuck and people try to open the doors and climb through the partial opening, (it stops halfway to outer door opening), and elevator suddenly starts moving the wrong way and cuts you in half. Always stay in the car, no matter what.

You just have to time yer jump... MJ will live a bit longer than a white guy...

The landing will get him too :D

Use the F ing stairs.

About 25 years ago I used to represent Schindler Elevator in NYC. I’ve seen every possible scenario when it comes to elevator and escalator mishaps. I don’t have the answer but can say a dropping elevator is extremely rare. The most common scenarios causing injury are abrupt stops and misleveled…either too low or too high when the elevator car stops.

The cases I handled that involved death were cases where the call button is pushed, the doors open, and a person walks into an empty shaft.

My takeaway from that period of my career is….always confirm the elevator car is there and always make sure the car is level with the floor of the building.

I preferred the Les' method :D ... I always took the stairs regardless matter how many floors ... and walked the stairwell round-trip twice a day in my last gig... only 17 floors... I was paid to exercise and avoided elevators usually.

My stairwells topped out at 27 floors tho' ... that doesn't work everywhere else ;)

This will keep me tonight. Thanks.
I like the idea lying on the other person. Or maybe jump on their back for a longer crumple zone.
No sense in both of you dying, am I right?

I take steps to avoid elevators.
The lifts in my building at work are notoriously unreliable.

In Houston there have been people that have had the doors close on body parts and then the elevator moves while the body part is clamped in the doors. There was a person that got their head sheared off that way. Granted, I don't think you should be getting into an elevator head first.

Also, another in Houston, someone got in an elevator during a storm that was causing flooding and tried to go to their car in the basement parking. The flooded, basement parking. That person drowned.

Looks like the best strategy is to not work in underground mining...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elevator_accidents

I got wasted at a hotel bar in downtown Omaha one night. I went to take the elevator back up to my room and i tried to keep the door from closing with my hand (that was holding a wine glass). The elevator door crushed the glass and i was able to get my hand out of the door in time.

I've used my hand or foot to "catch" a closing elevator door. I've had many folks that were surprised that I went that route. I would NOT use my head to attempt the same thing.

Reading the description of your event, did you end up needing a ton of stitches or reconstructive surgery to put your hand back together? Wine glasses are no joke when it comes to cutting things up when broken.

I stopped trying to catch elevators after that. I’ve seen the subway videos of people forcing their way into a closing door headfirst, but it seems like one can fight their way through those doors.

I ended up unscathed. I would like to think it was my cat like reflexes but the bottom of the glass caught first then buckled, which gave me enough time to get my hand out of that meat grinder.

Damn, lucky break! Thank goodness, that could have been very ugly/bad.

Don't count out the perfectly timed jump at the end!

I ran the numbers: You are safer getting in and out of an elevator than you are doing same in your shower.

Given that, in business, any business, the best strategy to survive elevator "failures" is to never run your yap in an elevator with a colleague if there other people in the car you don't know with you.

Shut up: Zero defect ride.

OK, I didn't run the numbers but...

Don'tcha love doing liability defense work? Its like having a subscription ticket to a horror movie theater, and you get to cheer for the ghouls.
I did fire subro for a brief period. Don't get me started on that...

Ask Sterling Moss

Why?

I rode in the THE oldest residential elevator on the planet recently. It is in the Marland Mansion in Ponca City, OK. The white house had the first one, but it was removed during one of the renovations.

The walls are covered in buffalo hide. It is just a three story building, so no a long ride. Otis elevator is proud of it, and they come service it every three months to keep it working perfectly.

Riding in an elevator is very safe. In Oklahoma City, the tallest building is 50 stories. The top floor is a restaurant. The have one elevator that only goes from ground to 50th floor. It is fast enough your ears will pop going up or down. It is a fancy and good restaurant. I sure would not want to walk up 50 floors.

Check out this article:

https://historycollection.com/cheat-death-twice-betty-lou-oliver-survived-75-storey-elevator-crash-plane-crashed-building/


The rescuers had placed Betty on a stretcher and put her in an elevator on the 79th floor. Unfortunately, they didn’t know that the cables on the elevator had been weakened in the crash. As soon as they placed Betty on the elevator, the cables snapped, and Betty started to hurtle down towards the bottom of the elevator shaft. Her entire life must surely have passed before her eyes as the elevator rocketed towards the ground.

In a few seconds, she would be dead at just 20 years of age; with no opportunity to achieve any of her goals in life nor would she see her husband again. Remarkably, Betty survived her second ordeal of the day with an extraordinary amount of luck by all accounts. The elevator plunged a total of 75 stories, approximately 1,000 feet, so in reality, Betty shouldn’t have survived.

As it transpired, the thousand feet of elevator cable had broken away and fallen to the bottom of the shaft before Betty landed. By the time she landed, the cable was there to provide a softer landing surface. The rapid compression of air also added to the cushion. Although there are more fun ways to end up in the Guinness Book of Records, Betty’s name was added for the unlikely feat of longest survived elevator fall; a record she still holds today. It was an incredible escape but what became of Betty Lou Oliver?

And don't even start about escalators, when they stop unexpectedly you have to walk up them like stairs. That can lead to lawsuits, criminal investigations, the works.

I can count the number of times I have taken the elevator at the hospital on one hand.

Been on staff since 2002

I ALWAYS jump at the end of elevator rides. Wife punches me and tells me to knock it off if she is there, just like my sister did when we were kids. Is there a book they all read or something? Usually, they don't like the Three Stooges either. I think maybe there is a connection.

If I had time I guess I would lie flat on my back on the floor. The elevators I worked on when contacted to paint the doors all over SoCal usually had springs at the bottom of the shaft. I was given keys to remotely control the car. The point was to put the car below my floor enough to walk on the top to access the door release. But you know I had to move the car up and look down just for curiosity. The truth is when you know about elevators, they are scary. The pit is usually not a comfortable place to work in but the techs do it all the time. They ride the tops too checking wires and mechanicals.

If top fuel drivers can stand the forces they incur I would think you'd have a chance. The thing is, once the car reaches speed you are in free fall. How do you get down?

Incidentally, using the remote keys allows movers and construction people to haul stuff on top that won't fit inside. They will call out an elevator tech to operate when needed. It's not cheap. In the old days a building engineer might have the key and help move some long stuff. I worked with a commercial moving company once in awhile as a stand by carpenter assembling work stations taken apart to move to a new office. It's been a long time but I suspect remote operation is limited to only certified techs. The old days were more like the wild west.

Moving commercial on weekends and at night in a high rise is very different in some respects. You see some weird siht. The sight of a piano going up the side of a building comes to mind. This has been done, BTW, but the logistics and cost keep that sort of thing to a minimum.

Generally now there is at least on oversized car for this kind of thing. But go into some old buildings and things get creative. There's movers and then there's movers of a much higher degree.

If you can't jump...

Monkey roll :D

Mythbusters did an episode on this one time and I don’t remember much about it, but I think they determined that if the elevator is free falling you aren’t surviving the stop.

Probably could find the episode on YouTube if you’re so inclined.

During my first job in engineering there was an old cigar-smoking draftsman next to me who firmly believed it was just a matter of timing your leap correctly as the elevator impacted the floor and you would walk away unharmed :D Explaining the law of physics to him? Nope, he wasn't havein' any of that book smart mumbojumbo from college ...

Monkey Roll FTW!

From what I understand, if you're in a violent car accident, you should leap through the open window and monkey roll and you'll be fine, especially if the accident involves ending up in a body of water of some sort (which is clearly the norm for automobile accidents and a good reason to NOT wear a seatbelt).

That guy was a hoot!

LOL! Just Jump at the speed of terminal velocity and don't get hit by the top of the elevator, and you should be good to go.

In March 2010, 80-year old Sir Stirling Moss, the legendary former racer, fell three stories down an elevator shaft at his London home, suffering two broken ankles, four broken bones in his foot, and four chipped vertebrae. Somehow, he managed to survive, and went on to live another 10 years, passing away at age 90.


Back in the late 1950s, there was a TV series called 'The Man and the Challenge' in which scientist/adventurer Dr. Glenn Barton (played by George Nader) is recruited by the govt. for high-risk missions. In one episode that I remember, Barton was in an elevator that suddenly starts to free fall. In order to absorb some of the impact from the sudden stop, he grabs onto a light fixture and holds himself up close to the ceiling. Of course, this being TV, he comes away unscathed, but I doubt this would work in the real world.

This works on so many levels!:D

^^^ until the steps stop working ... then what :D?

Thanks r cooled my big brother met Sterling back in the late 60's at at the US Grand prix, they be came pen pals so I always will rember Mr Moss as a family friend

This is the least of my concerns right now…

I don’t wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat about it, but don’t you want to Be Prepared just in case?

No. Might as well be prepared for getting left behind during the rapture, (wait-wasn't that last Tuesday?), or getting eaten by a tiger in the middle of San Francisco. Granted, I'm about the least worrisome person who ever lived but it's pointless to think about things that are not actually happening and are not going to happen.

Just my opinion, as always. :)

An interesting topic is how elevators contributed to the advent of tall buildings. It wasn't actually the invention of the elevator or lift but the invention of the centrifugal brake system. Before the brake was invented, no one would ride in an elevator more than one or two floors for the very reason in the OP. Natural fear of heights and falling.

One of my uncles told me when I was a kid that fear of heights and intelligence was directly correlated. He was a funny guy. :)

Once the brake came along, the birth of the skyscraper occurred. Before that, there were no tall buildings.

Exactly the topics of my next threads!

i take stairs whenever possible. i do believe it will help my life.

but, in the scenario, i think you are going to have to knock out your friend and lay ontop of his body as a cushion.

:D

I used to work on the 11th floor of a 35 floor building. One of the guys that we worked with was trying to lose weight so we all started "doing the stairs" with him. At first, we'd go 11-->G-->11 a couple/few times per day. We worked up to going 11--> G --> 15 --> 11. And then, as you can imagine with a bunch of dudes, some folks were running, so everyone was running, or you'd get to a floor and say "I feel pretty good, should we go another few floors" to which the next guy would respond "hell, this is easy" and we'd feed off of each other. One day that went on until we all ran from 0 up to the top of the stairs at the door to the roof. The trip back down from 35 to 11 was rough. You'd never think that going down would be so hard.

Absolutely. And pray that when the elevator lands you are knocked off so when they find you, you guys aren't snuggling. Not that there's anything wrong with that if that's what you're into....