A NYC elevator accident lawyer can help if you are injured due to the negligence of another. Building owners must maintain elevators on the premises. Also, elevators must be properly manufactured and inspected. There have been many elevator accidents in New York City. Unfortunately, most have led to a tragic death.
How an Elevator Accident Lawyer Can Help
A proper NYC elevator accident lawyer must have the experience and knowledge to take the steps needed to pursue your settlement. A common type of NYC elevator accident occurs when an individual falls into an elevator shaft. Properly functioning doors of an elevator will open perfectly aligned with the floor. If an elevator is defective, it will not be properly aligned with the floor. This leaves the shaft exposed. Accidents often happen when this occurs, causing injuries or even death. NYC elevator accident lawyers frequently handle these types of cases.
Sudden stops are also common. Sudden stops happen when there is a system malfunction or loss of power. This can throw passengers into the elevator walls, doors, or to the ground. Sudden stops often lead to trauma, including head injuries. A door sensor can also malfunction and close its doors on a passenger’s body while they are standing in the doorway. Similarly, a mis-leveled elevator can lead to a tripping hazard. Every NYC elevator accident lawyer must be familiar with how these accidents commonly occur.
Recent Accidents
Just last year an elevator crushed a Kips Bay man to death in his building in an incident. He became caught between the elevator car and a shaft wall. The department of buildings found that the elevator was missing a key safety component and shut it down.
In another NYC elevator accident, a worker died when an elevator crushed him at a Manhattan construction site. The incident took place on the 33rd floor when the worker dropped his phone.
When the worker went down to pick it up, he somehow became caught on something. The elevator fell and a metal piece that was sticking out from the shaft crushed him. In the more than 400,000 elevator inspections conducted between 2017 and 2019, there were 2,127 instances where elevators were given just a “satisfactory” rating. Incredibly, the NYC DOB later issued violations related to those same elevators within within just 90 days of that rating. An audit also recently took place that showed two companies under city contracts were routinely missing safety problems. They even failed to document more than 14,000 required elevator inspections over a two-year period. The competent NYC elevator accident lawyers at the Platta Law Firm can do the investigation needed to win your case and get you the results you deserve.
