Many accidents and elevator incidents have occurred, including serious incidents causing death. Finding out the cause shows that, in many serious cases, even though the maintenance, inspection of elevators are carried out regularly and periodically, there are still incidents, even serious problems occurring. One of the causes of that situation was determined to come from the inadequacies of elevator maintenance and repair.
A series of serious incidents
Around 11pm on October 19, 2021, Ms. N.H.A. (born in 2000, residing at Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Lang Thuong Ward, Dong Da District) with Ms. N.Q.N (born in 1998, in Kim Ma Ward) went from the 8th floor of the elevator to the 1st floor of a high-rise building on Kim Street. Ma, Ba Dinh district. While the elevator moved to the 7th floor, there was an incident, two people were trapped inside. The two girls were assisted by building security to open the elevator door. When Ms. N.H.A. climbing from the 7th floor to the landing, she suddenly fell down the shaft to the 1st floor and died.
Compensating rope is torn due to friction but not detected early
On the evening of October 22, at a large apartment block in Linh Dam area, the elevator was stuck on the 5th floor, and the 5 people in the elevator had to wait a long time for rescue. Before that, also in the area of HH Linh Dam buildings, a stuck elevator incident made 8 residents of the building stuck in the elevator. In addition to the above cases, if the statistics are complete, there are quite a few other incidents that come from the elevator from small damage to other serious consequences. Elevators are classified as a vehicle with a very high level of safety, but in fact there are still many incidents that occur. The causes of the problem are many but focus on two important groups of factors coming from equipment and people, of which one of the important causes is careless maintenance or poor technician skills that cannot detect errors
The railhead is very dirty and full of rubbish but not cleaned, not oiled – potentially dangerous problems
Section 21 of Circular 36/2019/TT-BLDTBXH promulgating the list of machines, equipment, supplies and substances with very strict requirements on occupational safety and hygiene issued by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. There is elevator on that list. Because it is directly related to safety, health and human life, the use, maintenance and inspection of elevators must strictly comply with the provisions of the law. But according to many experts in the field of law and elevators, although legal documents have regulations on sanctions for handling violations in the field of elevators, these regulations are not specific, clear, and compliance hasn’t been taken seriously, leading to many undesirable consequences.
Inadequate maintenance work
Circular No. 15/2018/TTBLĐTBXH National technical regulation on occupational safety for home elevators, symbol QCVN 32:2018/BLDTBXH issued on October 12, 2018 has strict requirements for the unit that installs, calibrates, maintains and repairs elevators. However not all units seriously comply. Some experienced maintenance technicians commented that some maintenance items such as changing the gearbox oil, changing the motor axle grease, and cleaning the elevator were sometimes not carried out. As a result, dirt, foreign objects and garbage fall into the rope groove, which will wear out or deform the rope, making the elevator unstable and prone to vibration. Leaving for a long time can cause the elevator to lose its rope, leading to a free fall with serious consequences.
The electrical cabinet had no cover and was very dirty but these issues were passed!
Circular 15 also stipulates that, during use, elevators must be monitored, managed, and inspected by people who have been trained in occupational safety in terms of elevator use, including rescue work. If it is not possible to arrange a person to monitor and manage the elevator, a competent organization or individual must be hired to perform this monitoring and management.
But in fact, without periodic maintenance, when maintaining, many management boards even hire maintenance units that are not qualified and reputable. It is not uncommon for maintenance personnel to use low-quality or fake boards, devices, components or cheap imitations instead of using genuine, qualified parts. Worse, there is a case where the safety circuit is turned off, causing the elevator to become a dangerous “trap” for users. In addition, many technical staff maintaining elevators did not fulfill their responsibilities, did not detect or ignore many equipment failures such as oil dry rope, dirty pits that were not cleaned, compensation rope torn due to friction, electrical cabinets on the roof of the cabin are not carefully installed, the bolts of the car buffer are lost but not replaced, the rails lose screws but are not supplemented, … According to elevator experts, over time, these errors can be completely dangerous. The reason for not detecting or ignoring these errors is due to the lows skill level technical staff, negligent staff, skipping the maintenance stage and sometimes maintenance firm just do their job perfunctorily
It’s human life!
According to Ha Tat Thang, Director of the Department of Labor Safety, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam currently has about 300 enterprises in the field of elevators, 1,500 individuals and organizations related to elevators with about 5,000 elevators, escalators are installed every year. This number will continue to increase soon. However, along with the need to install elevators, there are many inadequacies such as some manufacturers and importers of elevators that do not guarantee the quality, have not met safety requirements; Organizations and individuals that own and operate the elevator have not fully performed the inspection, maintenance and repair work of the elevator; the workers who install, maintain, and are in charge of operating the elevators have not been trained in safety during their work, causing serious accidents… With millions of elevators in operation, this management system problem is a matter of great urgency.
Many elevators in the resettlement area of Den Lu – Hoang Mai are contracted for periodic maintenance but are not eligible to operate because they do not pass the inspection.
In another perspective, the correct maintenance procedures, early detection of equipment failures not only minimizes breakdowns, but also significantly increases the lifespan of the elevator. According to an elevator expert, his unit provided 2 units with 2 elevators of the same type. However, after a period of use, one was completely damaged while the other was working very well. Find out that the owner of the elevator that works well has chosen a reputable, experienced maintenance unit and well-trained, certified technical staff, clear qualifications, working with high responsibility, … The owner of the broken elevator chose an irresponsible maintenance unit, advised to replace the wrong equipment, and the components were out of sync, leading to rapid deterioration of the elevator and eventually complete damage. If calculated in detail, the money to repair the elevator is many times larger than the money saved by choosing a low maintenance price…
Maintenance technicians are formally trained, have uniforms, full protective equipment, and have an employee card when coming to work at the customer’s house.
The establishment of the Vietnam Elevator Association, followed by affiliated units including Elevator Magazine, Institute of Applied Research in Elevator Engineering is expected to become an extension arm, helping state management agencies in participating in the development of legal documents, formulating product standards to advanced technology transfer, standardizing the elevator vocational training process from installation, maintenance, repair, inspection, etc., whose ultimate goal is to protect the interests of consumers, bring the elevator industry into international integration, and make a significant contribution to the Vietnamese economy.
Read more: Lesson 1: Breaking into the house to ask for elevator maintenance
