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Gov't to inspect 5,500 Schindler elevators after fatal accident

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© 2012 AFP

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This Swiss company is again in the news and for all of the wrong reasons. I always thought of Swiss products as being of a very high quality, so pretty sad to hear of these stupid accidents. RIP poor cleaning woman out in Kanazawa.

1 ( +5 / -3 )

It may be a Swiss elevator, but if the hotel that bought it didn't have a service contract with the manufacturer, odds are it wasn't maintained properly. The hotel could be blamed for poor maintenance if this was the case.

12 ( +14 / -3 )

Schindler elevators have to be one of the clunkiest around. I have been in them in overseas apartments and they are noisy, jolt when they stop and give a rough ride. All Japanese elevators are superior with their silent smooth action and reliability. Schindler elevators have also been in serious incidents overseas as well.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

If you simply search the internet a little longer even you guys will find that their security record is blameless. If your picture of Japan were a little more realistic, you wouds understand that this has not so much to do with a european company, but with the quality of japanese maintenance.....

3 ( +9 / -6 )

hello! they should be checking all elevators and not just schindler ones...

13 ( +15 / -1 )

"The government said Friday that it will carry out a nationwide inspection of thousands of elevators produced by Swiss company Schindler after a hotel worker was crushed to death by one."

If only the govt treated nuclear power plant incidents with the same passion as elevator accidents.

Takeshima, Senkaku, foreign elevators - the media will no doubt be busy with this for days. In the meantime, contract workers for Tepco are working in atrocious conditions while Mr Shimizu is sitting pretty in his next job.

I don't know which I dislike more. Politicians, elite bureaucrats or the media.

Then again, they all seem to roll into one.

13 ( +14 / -0 )

'the government" is going to check all Schindler lifts, well, who exactly in "the government" is qualified to do this? Answer, no-one so, the work will be contracted out to one or more maintenance companies, possibly including the company who "maintained" the faulty lift.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Maintenance schudele program is made by schindler. But still the design is not that safe

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

It does not have to be a Swiss elevator, or lift as our British amigos call it, to be dangerous. Back in college, well actually, back in university, our tour of the campus included an elevator ride and I will never ever forget what the older student, leading us on a campus tour told us, that the year before a bunch of students decided to take an "interesting picture" so they all packed into the elevator, causing it to BREAK and the elevator fell between floors, one of the kids panicked, trying to get out so he was able to pry the elevator doors open but just as this kid was trying to escape out of the elevator, it fell again, cutting him in half! I am not sure, but I doubt it was a Swiss elevator since this was back in California. Moral of the story, do not mess around in elevators, Japanese, American, Swiss etc...not worth it.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

How about they inspect all 150000 elevators in Tokyo alone? That's their job right?

Oh yea, I forgot that you can't actually expect them to do their jobs, just find a foreign company/person to be the scapegoat and you're done.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

VicMOsaka: "All Japanese elevators are superior with their silent smooth action and reliability."

So why don't they buy and use Japanese elevators then? They have only themselves to blame, not Schindler, and especially since it's up to the buildings in question to ensure the maintenance schedule is up to snuff and followed. In this case, they were told some time ago to inspect one of the very things that went wrong, but had put it off.

overchan: the schedule may be made by Schindler, but whose job is it to get an employee to work when they are not showing up on time?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

For one thing, this can't be blamed on Schindler. This has to be down to poor maintenance by the hotel or lack of a service contract perhaps. 4,499 other Schindler elevators are working without error. Secondly, why is this being investigated by the government? For one, it's not a political problem and secondly, surely this is a task for Health & Safety boards? Just a thought. Sad that the woman lost her life this way.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The fact that 1 Schindler elevator malfunction and got someone killed, does it mean "4,499 other Schindler elevators had been working without error"? What kind of logic?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

All elevators and escalators are required by law to be inspected annually like cars. I do not know if Schindler were at wrong since after changing of law several years ago the building owners are now able to assign a maintenance company seperately from the manufacturer and since the hotel in question was one of those cheap hotels that would cut corners to save a buck, really woudn't know what really happened.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hey guys, Avoid the elevators and walk up and down the stairs for good cardiac exercise besides safety.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I'm with Jack! If possible, use stairs and get a bit of much needed excersise and avoid these crazy accidents!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

There should be redundant sensors such that power is cut off should the doors open and elevator is still moving. These days electronics are so efficient and affordable. In Instrumentation safety, they call it 2oo3 i.e. if two out of three sensors voted that an action is probably malfunctioning then a Stop is effected.

What is the cost compared to a human life?

Also should someone be trapped between the lift and the frame or doors, then power has to be stopped and manually reset.

Obviously the elevator codes are not be kept up to date. Alas, Japan today is somewhat less thorough than it used to be...nuclear power station accident and then they get wise. The tsunami overwhelms the tallest walls and they get smart again. And yet Japan continues to produce Nobel Prize winners. They can do better.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Elbuda MexicanoNov. 03, 2012 - 04:57PM JST

I'm with Jack! If possible, use stairs and get a bit of much needed excersise and avoid these crazy accidents

Jack SternNov. 03, 2012 - 03:53PM JST

Hey guys, Avoid the elevators and walk up and down the stairs for good cardiac exercise besides safety.

You are actually more likely to slip on the stairs and die than you are to even get stuck in an elevator, even schindler ones. While it is good exercise, try walking up to the 20th floor four times a day. There's a reason why skyscrapers didn't take off until the 1900s, and it had nothing to do with masonry (well, two reasons, but most people agree it could have been perfectly possible without reinforced concrete and steel structural support).

Don't avoid these elevators, 5 billion customers served world wide each year (their statistics) and only a few severed each decade.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Rest in Peace to the poor lady - just doing her job.

All Japanese elevators are superior with their silent smooth action and reliability.

The thousands of Japanese businesses who order and use Schindlers Lifts probably disagree. Let's just wait until the Coroner's report comes out as to who is to blame for this tragedy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

they should be checking all elevators and not just schindler ones...

How many elevators are there in Japan and how much would it cost to check all of them? Who would pick the bill up for that - you?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Schindler would have been better off with a more decent Japanese maintenance company but then again one can understand how hard it is for non-Japanese to compete in Japan with the taxes that non-Japanese companies have to pay.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sigh ... after reading this, I don't know the name of the hotel. I don't know the woman's name. I don't know whether a company other than Schindler was responsible for maintenance. If I turned in a story like this to my own editor, it would be returned to me right away, with a note asking me to report the basic facts. To report an accident and selectively identify only one possible responsible party is unfair, I think.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

You guys are completely biased. Those elevators exist in Japan just because someone offered and convinced someone. But. If a ford brake fails are you going to check toyota? Please.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

non-Japanese company has more taxes that a Japanese one? Huh? I can understand if they are importing products in, but if they are just a service company, shouldn't be any tax differences.

Both companies should be taxed the same and both will end up having to pay to import the elevator parts.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

As many posters said, one accident is one too much. But the J-Gov pointing out it comes from a foreign company that need to be closely monitored by them is childish and offending (except if they have evidence of confirmed malfunctions).

What if a kid get hurts by a japanese car door in Germany? Do you believe the government will say: "we will check all japanese cars"? That would just buzz a mega lough!

The comment coming from a lambda citizen would not hurt, but from government, this is a serious commercial intervention issue.

My recommendation: technically check all - or more seriously randomly - elevators in Japan by an independent international auditor and make a full and transparent report! I am sure Schindler will support this initiative.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Open MindedNov. 03, 2012 - 11:55PM JST

My recommendation: technically check all - or more seriously randomly - elevators in Japan by an independent international auditor and make a full and transparent report! I am sure Schindler will support this initiative.

Actually a better alternative, have the companies each provide experts to check elevators, and then assign them to check each other's devices. No better way than that to spot absolutely anything and everything that could go wrong.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

@Basroil - I am fine with your idea. As long as this is a non-biased and published evaluation, this is for the good of everyone living in mid/high rise building!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Many elevator enthusiasts, as well as those working in the industry think that Schindler elevators and escalators are of poor quality, as many major elevator and escalator breakdowns are on Schindler elevators and escalators.[10][11] This has led to widespread dislike of Schindler throughout the elevator-fanatic community, with a few members advocating against Schindler, and supporting other companies, such as Otis or Kone.[12] However, Schindler products are still popular, because they are often the best deal for management of facilities.................................Price ?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

VicMOsakaNov. 04, 2012 - 08:25AM JST

Many elevator enthusiasts, as well as those working in the industry think that Schindler elevators and escalators are of poor quality, as many major elevator and escalator breakdowns are on Schindler elevators and escalators.[10][11] This has led to widespread dislike of Schindler throughout the elevator-fanatic community, with a few members advocating against Schindler, and supporting other companies, such as Otis or Kone.[12] However, Schindler products are still popular, because they are often the best deal for management of facilities.................................Price ?

1) Don't quote wikipedia verbatim without a link or other attribution. It's CC-BY-SA, so keep it that way.

2) That's been flagged for bias and just poor writing.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Schlinder are cheap elevators.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It is way too simple to just blame the elevator company. Elevators are desinged to fulfill international and national safety codes which is also true in case of Japan. Each elevator is inspected and handed over when it fulfills these norms. So maybe it would be a good idea to look for the people who write these codes and sign the handover certificates; remember the norms for Japan were changed after the accident in 2006. ... what does this tell you ? Very simple: no technical system is absolutely safe (I do not need to remind you of Fukushima do I)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mechanical things break, think about how many times a day the rest of the 5500 elevators cycle through their operating procedures. It would have been nice to have more information on the age of this elevator, service record, etc. in order to make a more educated rant.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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