Charles A. Buckman, CSS, CEI
elevator and escalator expert
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This page and its' sub-pages are dedicated to providing helpful information to the legal community. There'll be a few anecdotes too on a page called "In Contempt". At the moment these pages are in their formative stages. Please provide some feedback, by signing my Guestbook or sending me an e-mail, suggesting additional information that would be helpful. You'll find escalators and elevators each have their own pages.
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"What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way."..
--Bertrand Russell,
in "Roads to Freedom"1994 Escalator Statistics
Credit: Information provided by Vertical Analysis, Inc.
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* These figures only represent accidents where the victims attended a hospital emergency room. Reports by leading consultants suggest that these figures may be grossly under estimated. They suggest that the total number of accidents could be closer to 27,000
As the number of accidents per escalator is disproportionately higher than with elevators, so also is the severity of accidents on escalators disproportionately greater than with elevators, with many accidents requiring hospitalization, and extensive recuperation.
A 1978 department store study disclosed that only 15% of accidents are attributable to ‘unsafe acts’, which means that up to 85% may be preventable.
Accidents fall into two main categories: Entrapments, which are usually the most severe and account for 20% of all accidents; and falls which contribute to about 75% of all incidents.
Lawsuits rise as elevator, escalator safety declines
July 26th,1998, the Miami Herald reported that elevator and escalator lawsuits are on the rise as safety declines. Several consultants and inspectors were reported to have said that a big part of the problem is a decline in maintenance. This was attributed to building owners opting for inexpensive service, allowing companies to skimp on labor and repairs.
Kathy Davies, the mother of a 5 year old girl injured by a St. Petersburg escalator, was quoted as saying, “To these big companies little fingers and toes are just the cost of doing business.”
Using an Expert:
It's been said that experts are called in, when the case is lost, for someone to blame it on. This, of course, is counterproductive. Other reasons I have either heard of or experienced:
An inexperienced attorney in over his/her head;
An attorney who has taken a case for cash flow without evaluating or caring about validity;
An attorney whose case is coming apart and needs support.
When to hire an expert:
(It's kind of like real estate's magic words: location, location, location.)
The most auspicious time is when you first consider the case (immediately, immediately, etc.). Once having decided that the case has merit, the search for an expert should begin. The client must be told that, while you're a killer in the court room, there are a few things they didn't teach in law school, and elevator codes and technology are two of them. A few examples:
I read a prospective case recently where a woman was injured by an elevator door. The attorney elected not to engage an expert. It sounded too easy and he had the case on contingency. Because the attorney doesn't recognize the ramifications, the case will be difficult to win and is a shoo;
In a recent case the client fell down an elevator shaft and was seriously injured. The owner had shallow pockets. By inspecting the elevator I was able to substantially expand the base of defendants. The case had to be expanded at the last possible minute. Had I been brought on at the beginning, the client would have recovered by now;
In a recent case the client was injured when the elevator stopped unexpectedly and very hard. Several defendants were dismissed prior to my engagement. At least one of them could have prevented the injury and had deep pockets.
In a recent case the client fell down an elevator shaft and was seriously injured. The attorney immediately hired a private investigator to take pictures and then contacted me. Text book. No problem!
It costs little more, if any, to maximize your recovery!
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Revised March 23, 2000
