Year after Fort Worth JPS elevator accident, reports of people getting stuck continue
In the year after a nurse was critically injured while riding an elevator at John Peter Smith Hospital, the number of times someone was stuck is down slightly, and there have been four reports of doors that closed too fast and hit employees.
In one case, a passenger who was stuck on an elevator broke the handrail off the wall and used it to pry open the doors.
Robert Earley, the hospital’s CEO, dropped the company’s previous contractor — Thyssenkrupp — in March 2019, two months after nurse Carren Stratford was critically injured while trying to ride an elevator on Jan. 20, 2019. She was crushed as she stepped on to the elevator’s car as it continued to rise .
Thyssenkrupp’s termination followed a year when elevators faulted at a rate of one time a day, a Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation found. At least 80 times someone reported being trapped in one of the hospital’s 47 elevators. During a 30 day period, at least 110 elevator failures occurred, according to emails between the hospital and Thyssenkrupp.
Southwest Elevator took over the maintenance of the elevators on April 11, 2019. Since then, there have been 74 reports of someone being trapped on an elevator. There were 51 times when an empty elevator was stuck on a floor, according to maintenance records obtained by the Star-Telegram.
Contractors and maintenance companies don’t keep track of how often elevators are used. The hospital said it is working with Southwest Elevator to complete much needed upgrades to many of its elevators.
Elevator No. 29 (the one in which Stratford was riding) and the two next to it have been upgraded and are expected to return to service this spring. All three elevators have been closed since Jan. 20, 2019, said hospital spokeswoman Diana Brodeur.
The two main elevators in the garage underwent upgrades in the past year. Four more elevators are expected to be upgraded this year, with two more scheduled for 2021.
“Planning and budgeting will continue beyond that as all the elevators continue to cycle through modernization,” Brodeur said.
Last year Southwest Elevator made several recommendations regarding upgrades:
▪ Adding additional labor to adjust, add parts and clean each elevator, which would cost about $250,000 to $300,000.
▪ Removing and replacing the hoist ropes on five elevators, which would take about three people to work on three elevators a day. This was budgeted at $30,000 an elevator.
▪ Completing the upgrades on the three elevators that are out of service, costing about $350,000 an elevator.
▪ Replacing brakes and motors on some machines, which costs about $80,000 an elevator.
Brodeur said the hospital moved forward with all of the recommendations.
“And one year later, significant progress has been made,” she said.
The first two recommendations have been completed, with the upgrades being completed in the spring. The recommendation to replace brakes is planned and budgeted through 2021, she said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
