Elevator accident: People were startled.

The mini-apartment number 28/106/25 at Dai Linh street, Trung Van ward is located in a zigzag and deep alley where it is difficult for two motorbikes to avoid each other. On a narrow area, the apartment building… 10 floors, each floor can arrange 2 symmetrical apartments.

In order to optimize the usable area in each apartment, the area for corridors, elevators and stairs is very small. The steepness of the stairs makes people falter every time they go up and down. Therefore, the elevator becomes the most convenient means of transportation for residents in the building. But that is also a low point of the people here when: There is an elevator but dare not use it! That is the share of many people living in the building, the scene of the accident where the child V.H.D fell into the elevator shaft when the landing door suddenly opened inside.

It was only when an elevator accident happened that people panicked

Ms. H, a tenant in this building, complained that the elevator was broken frequently. There was a time when passenger was stuck inside. The status of calling the elevator has no response as well as meals. And Mr. P, on the 5th floor, said that he had just bought a room here for a few years, but he hardly dared to use the elevator due to… fear. In addition to the frequent breakdowns, the noise made every time elevator moved was very loud, which worried him.

After construction, the investor sold and handed over all apartments to individual buyers and no longer had any responsibility. Therefore, this mini apartment has no management board and no maintenance fund. Whenever the elevator breaks, people will donate money to fix it. When asked if the elevator is regularly maintained and inspected, Mr. P innocently said: I don’t know what an inspection is!

People like Mr. P, Ms. H and many other relatives here are aware of the risks that their families face every day such as unsafe fire, explosion or the risk from an elevator with a “history of illness”. “. As for how dangerous it is, they seem to be quite vague and only when an accident occurs will they startle and panic.

Inadequacies in management, ensuring people’s safety

According to Article 3 of the Law on Housing 2014: An apartment building is a house with 2 floors or more, has many apartments, has a common passageway and stairs, a part under common ownership, and a system of infrastructure works, common-use floors for households, individuals and organizations, including apartment buildings built for residential purposes and apartment buildings built with mixed-use purposes for residential and business purposes. This apartment building must operate under the mechanism by which the owner and the people elect the management board to operate and use. Mini apartment is a concept that people often talk about, but it does not appear in legal documents.

When talking to a reporter from Elevator Magazine, the leader of the People’s Committee of Trung Van Ward said that there are no specific guidelines on the management and safety inspection of elevators in mini-apartments. These mini-apartments hardly meet the standards and regulations on construction. Each mini-apartment has from a few households to a few dozen households, but there is no management board, so it is difficult to apply sanctions. It is also not possible to apply the penalty of stopping the elevator operation if it is not qualified to operate because it is still related to social security issues.

Elevator Magazine reporter is investigating the tractor of the elevator that caused the accident at the mini-apartment on Dai Linh street

Therefore, for the mini-apartment, the government is confused about how to deploy it, and can only propagate to raise people’s awareness. “Even the concept of a mini-apartment is not included in any documents, so it is very difficult to manage. We just treat them as ordinary people, but, that’s not the case, “said the representative of the government.

In such a situation, dangers are still hanging over the heads of many households living in such places.

Lock the barn door after the horse is gone!

Many people have not fully assessed the seriousness of the incident where the baby fell into the shaft. The baby was very lucky to escape danger when he was stuck on the 4th floor, but the nature of the incident was very serious. It is a red alarm about unsafety in general, not ensuring elevator safety in particular in mini-apartments. The case also pointed out many inadequacies in the management of these small-scale housing complexes called mini-apartments. There are also very heavy sanctions and remedies for violations of safety regulations, but it is very difficult to implement for the type of mini-apartment.

Therefore, the ward and commune authorities are very confused and passive in managing and sanctioning when there is a violation of safety in these buildings. That is also one of the reasons leading to the situation that fire prevention and elevator safety in mini-apartments have not been paid enough attention.

There are no exact statistics on the number of mini-apartments in Hanoi, but it is estimated to be in the thousands. Most of these mini-apartments are constructions of separate houses, subdividing apartments, illegally raising floors, and not meeting construction standards. Many mini-apartments in small alleys lead to many consequences such as violations of regulations on fire prevention and fighting leading to high risk of fire and explosion in the residential community, overload on technical and social infrastructure systems.

It is necessary to review the number of mini-apartments with fire safety assurance and elevators to minimize risk.

For example, in Trung Van ward alone, there are 16 mini-apartments, 217 small-scale accommodation establishments, of which many houses have elevators, but most do not ensure the safety conditions for fire and elevators. According to a separate investigation, most of the mini-apartments in the city do not meet the requirements to be issued with a red book. Therefore, the confusion and concern of commune and ward authorities in the management of mini-apartments is real.

“The management, inspection, application of sanctions, requirements to complete conditions on fire safety and other conditions for mini-apartments are very difficult. Meanwhile, if there is a serious fire or explosion incident or the recent elevator accident, the leaders of the local government are the ones responsible,” Trung Van ward leader shared.

Thousands of mini-apartments in Hanoi still exist and operate with potential risks that cannot be solved in a day or two. To ensure the safety of the people, the capital needs to soon review and re-evaluate the level of elevator safety in mini-apartments in the area. At the same time, the authorities need to add small-scale apartments to the legal documents, issue circulars/decisions specifically guiding local authorities to carry out supervision/handling. fines related to elevator safety. In addition, actively propagate and raise awareness about the importance of elevator safety for people to reduce risks.

Otherwise, once the elevator accident in the mini-apartment continues to happen, the unacceptable situation will repeat: Lock the barn door after the horse is gone!