Elevator incident reports reveal litany of misery; mishaps on the rise
TORONTO — From bumps and bruises to amputations and even death, data suggests elevators in Canada are proving increasingly dangerous.
In the past six years, six people have been killed and 1,225 people have been injured, including 69 permanently, in elevator mishaps in Ontario — which accounts for close to half of Canada’s elevators — according to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, which regulates the devices in the province.
The TSSA data shows the number of incidents more than doubled between 2011 and 2016, rising at an average rate of about 14 per cent a year. Serious injuries have been increasing annually by eight per cent.
To be sure, the thousands of residential and office elevators in service are generally safe, and deaths and serious injuries related to their use are relatively rare. Still, data obtained by The Canadian Press paints a disturbing picture of what can go wrong when people use a device most take for granted.