TORONTO — Office dwellers may want to consider taking the stairs more often after the release of new stats from the Technical Standards and Safety Authority.
In the past six years, six people have been killed and 1,225 injured — 69 permanently — in elevator mishaps in Ontario, according to the Canadian Press.
The number of incidents more than doubled between 2011 and 2016, rising at an average rate of about 14 per cent per year, while serious injuries have gone up by eight per cent.
Many mishaps are related to levelling issues, when the elevator doesn’t stop at the right spot. This leads to people tripping, with noses, toes and thumbs broken, or more serious harm.
While faulty maintenance or failure to follow the rules are part of the problem, 75 per cent of the incidents were caused by “user behaviour” such as trying to prevent elevator doors from closing.
