Talked to a retiree at the union hall who said he never rode an elevator he didn't install himself

He told me he trusts the motor and the rails but not the door safety edges because he's seen too many fail on paper, and that stuck with me all week - has anyone else heard old-timers say something similar about a specific part?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sage8d ago

That part about the door safety edges sticking with you makes total sense. I actually heard a similar thing from a guy who used to maintain old freight elevators in a steel mill back in the 70s. He told me the edge sensors would get gummed up with grease and dust inside the door track, and then the whole safety edge would just stop working completely without anyone knowing until someone got pinched. He said he started carrying a small piece of cardboard in his pocket specifically to test the edges every time he walked by one, because he'd seen them fail so often the paperwork just got ignored. Makes you wonder how many little things like that are flying under the radar in buildings where nobody checks.

martinez.paul8d ago

Yeah, that cardboard trick is genius, but it also means the real issue is nobody's being held accountable for checking.

brooke4488d ago

Okay, you're quoting a guy who carried cardboard in his pocket like some kind of elevator vigilante. I get it, he's seen some stuff, but is it REALLY that serious? I've been in old buildings my whole life and I've never once heard of someone getting hurt from a busted door edge. People talk about this stuff like every elevator is one bad sensor away from a disaster. Honestly, I think most of those safeties are overengineered and fail in a way that just stops the door from closing or opening, not like they're gonna chop your arm off. Feels like one of those things where the paperwork was probably fine 99% of the time and one guy got paranoid.