69K Elevators Recalled Over Entrapment Risk That Killed One Child, Seriously Injured Numerous Others

Elevator Recall Overview:

• Who: Three elevator manufacturers – Bella Elevator, LLC, Inclinator Company of America and Savaria Corporation – have recalled 69,000 residential elevators and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to stop using elevators manufactured by a fourth company – Waupaca Elevator Company, Inc. 
• What: The elevators, CPSC says, pose risks of serious injury or death to young children due to an entrapment hazard. 
• Where: The recall is nationwide.

Three elevator manufacturers – Bella Elevator, LLC, Inclinator Company of America and Savaria Corporation – have together recalled 69,000 residential elevators, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to stop using elevators manufactured by a fourth company – Waupaca Elevator Company, Inc. – after it refused to cooperate with a recall.

The elevators, CPSC says, pose risks of serious injury or death to young children due to an entrapment hazard.

“Young children can become entrapped in the space between the exterior landing (hoistway) door and the interior elevator car door or gate if there is a hazardous gap, and suffer serious injuries or death when the elevator is called to another floor,” the agency writes in the recall notice.

Three children were entrapped in this way during the summer of 2021 with one 7-year-old boy suffering fatal injuries in an elevator at a vacation rental home in North Carolina. In some incidents, children have suffered multiple skull fractures, fractured vertebrae, traumatic asphyxia and other horrific and lifelong injuries.

The recall follows a December 2020 recall of other residential elevators for the same hazard, as well as CPSC’s filing of a lawsuit against thyssenkrupp Access Corp. in July 2021 when the company refused to initiate a recall.

CPSC Urges Consumers To Check Elevator Safety

The agency is urging consumers, regardless of whether they have an elevator in their home or are staying in a vacation rental with one, to check the safety of the elevator using the following tips: 

• Make sure that the gap between doors is no more than four inches deep. If you are uncertain of the measurement or are otherwise concerned about the safety of the elevator, lock the elevator itself in an unusable position or lock all access doors to the elevator. 
• Have a qualified elevator inspector examine the home elevator for this dangerous gap and other potential safety hazards, inspecting to the latest ASME A17.3-2017, Safety Code for Existing Elevator and Escalators. 
• Dangerous gaps can be made safer by placing space guards on the back of the exterior (i.e., hoistway) door or installing an electronic monitoring device that deactivates the elevator when a child is detected in the gap. 
• Contact the elevator manufacturer or an elevator installer to obtain these critical safety devices to address this hidden hazard. Elevator installers should never allow any gap greater than four inches deep to exist in an elevator entryway.
• Check www.CPSC.gov/recalls to see if the elevator has been recalled. If it has been recalled, call the recalling firm immediately to arrange for the fix.

CPSC says it is continuing its investigation into the safety of residential elevators and advises consumers to report any safety incident involving residential elevators at www.SaferProducts.gov.

Do you have an elevator in your home? Let us know if this recall affects you in the comments section below!

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