Rise in breakdowns, little oversight: Why local elevator rescues have reached a new high

What goes up doesn’t always come down. That’s the issue with some elevators in Palo Alto and Stanford, data from the Palo Alto Fire Department shows.

The breakdowns, which are often cataloged on the fire dispatch app PulsePoint, show that “elevator rescues” aren’t an uncommon occurrence — nor are they limited to Palo Alto and Stanford. The alert notifications of these incidents, to which fire departments respond, come multiple times a week from all over San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Palo Alto fire’s calls for elevator rescue service this year have thus far surpassed all of 2021, according to the calls for service log. In 2021, there were 66 calls: 41 at Stanford and 25 in Palo Alto. This year, through Nov. 6, there were 74 total calls: 38 at Stanford and 36 in Palo Alto. The number has since climbed, with a total of 80 or more calls for service related to elevator rescues when considering more recent PulsePoint notifications.

Where are the most broken-down elevators in Palo Alto? In the No. 1 spot is the Bryant Street parking garage, located at 445 Bryant St. The location experienced 14 elevator rescue calls between Jan. 1, 2021, and Nov. 11, 2022, according to the fire dispatch data. In second and third places are two locations on the Stanford University campus: seven incidents were recorded at the Escondido Village high-rises, a graduate housing facility at 737 Campus Drive, and six at the Duan Family Hall undergraduate housing building at 757 Campus Drive.

The numbers can be a bit deceiving. Some buildings, such as Stanford Hospital at 500 Pasteur Drive, have multiple elevators listed in the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) elevator inspection database. Whether the multiple breakdowns occurred in one elevator or in different locations isn’t known. Yet, some individual elevators have multiple breakdowns.

The state’s inspection database lists 2,227 individual elevators in Palo Alto, Stanford, Menlo Park and Mountain View, but 1,460 (66%), had expired permits as of Dec. 6.

California has a serious backlog in elevator inspections. Out of the total 790 elevators listed in the state’s inspection database for Palo Alto, 594 had expired permits and had not been reviewed by a state elevator inspector as of Dec. 6. At Stanford, 209 elevators out of 364 in the state’s database have expired permits.

The numbers are equally concerning in neighboring cities. Out of 382 Menlo Park elevators in the state’s database, 310 had not been recently inspected and had expired permits, with only 72 having active permits. In Mountain View, there were 688 elevators in the database, with 344 having expired permits.

The Bryant Street garage, arguably the poster child for elevator breakdowns, had two rescues in 2001 and 12 in 2022, the latter incidents occurring between March and July.

City spokesperson Meghan Horrigan-Taylor said one of the two elevators in the garage had an intermittent problem that took some time for the elevator company to troubleshoot and repair.

“Vandalism and issues with unhoused persons may have also been a factor,” she said in an email.

State inspections are supposed to be annual. “If corrective actions are required, the elevator maintenance company is required to complete the repairs before the state issues the new permit,” she said.

The city’s parking garage elevators and the current state permit expiration date for each are as follows:

“Our experience is that the state is a little behind in their annual inspections with our elevators but not to the extent that other companies have experienced,” Horrigan-Taylor said.

The backlog is also more than 2 years old. The state’s inspection database showed a few elevators haven’t been inspected since 2018. Some were inspected in later years but still show expired permits as far back as 2017. The state Department of Industrial Relations didn’t explain why these permits weren’t renewed after inspections.

Most of the elevators with expired permits had their last inspections in 2021 and 2022. According to the elevator database, 686 of the permits for Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Stanford expired in 2021 and have not yet been inspected; in 2022 through Dec. 6, an additional 735 elevators haven’t been inspected and have expired permits.

There are nine elevator inspectors in the DIR’s San Jose office, which covers Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and other cities on the Peninsula. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), which is in charge of the hiring and inspection process, is working to hire three more, the department said in an email..

“Cal/OSHA acknowledges the need for elevator inspectors to ensure this critical work can be accomplished in a timely manner. Hiring is a top priority for the Division, and Cal/OSHA is currently working to fill newly established positions in addition to vacant positions in the Elevator Unit. Elevator Safety Inspectors require a very specialized skill set, and Cal/OSHA has been expanding its recruitment strategies to find interested and qualified candidates,” the DIR said.

So how dangerous are expired elevators?

The chances of an elevator cable breaking or the elevator crashing to the ground are slim, according to Otis, the world’s largest elevator manufacturer. Most elevators can stop when there are power outages, if there’s a mechanical or electrical malfunction in the system or when passengers misuse equipment.

Palo Alto Deputy Fire Chief Kevin McNally said although an injury can occur, he hasn’t seen an injury as a result of a malfunctioning elevator in his 18 years with the department. The most frequent causes of elevator breakdowns are issues such as a button that won’t open a door or an elevator stuck between floors, he said.

The Fire Department doesn’t crack open the elevator anymore to rescue people in most cases because it can cause too much damage that might lead to replacing the entire elevator, he said. In most instances, the department is there to monitor if someone is stuck inside. An elevator company is called to fix the problem so that people can escape.

Often, it’s a matter of turning the power off and on to reset the elevator. Sometimes, by the time the Fire Department responds the people are already out, McNally said.

After the passengers are freed, the elevator is tagged until the repairs are made.

Cal/OSHA doesn’t track the dates elevators get serviced.

“That is a matter that rests between the elevator owner/operator and the elevator maintenance company it hired. Elevators are required to be properly serviced and maintained by the building owner and their certified elevator maintenance company, even when operating with expired permits. All building owners should have a maintenance contract with a California-certified elevator company,” the DIR said.

Palo Alto has a contract with an elevator contractor that performs monthly, quarterly and annual inspections, preventative maintenance and repairs. Horrigan-Taylor said.

Valid permit or not, building owners would do well to have their elevators routinely inspected and repaired by a maintenance company. Under California law, public elevators are considered “common carriers,” much like a taxi, bus or other transportation conveyance serving the general public.

Civil Code section 2100 requires that a common carrier “must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage, must provide everything necessary for that purpose, and must exercise to that end a reasonable degree of skill.”

Further putting the onus on property owners, another civil code, section 2101, further states that a common carrier is “bound to provide vehicles safe and fit for the purposes to which they are put, and is not excused for default in this respect by any degree of care.”

A California Supreme Court decision also found that “common carriers bind themselves to carry safely those whom they take into their vehicles, and owe both a duty of utmost care and the vigilance of a very cautious person towards their passengers. Such carriers are responsible for any, even the slightest, negligence and are required to do all that human care, vigilance, and foresight reasonably can do under all the circumstances.”

Juries are required to apply a similar standard when deliberating in a civil trial.

If an elevator stops, the first thing to do is to remain calm, according to experts. If the lights are out, passengers should look for a source of light. Most people have cellphones that can illuminate a space and many phones have a built-in flashlight app. If there’s cellphone coverage, passengers can call police dispatch or use Wi-Fi, if available, to send a text message to a friend.

Passengers should not attempt to leave the cab without being cleared by a certified technician or the fire department, according to Otis, the elevator manufacturer, which has compiled five steps to take when an elevator breaks down.

Elevators are required to have an emergency button, an intercom or a phone, which is usually located in a panel beneath the control buttons. Passengers shouldn’t try to force the doors open and remember that the elevator has air circulation openings, so there will be no limit on available air inside the cab.

National elevator codes require that external doors are equipped with an “emergency unlocking device,” which can be operated with a special key. The key will open the doors so that passengers can leave.