CityNews Rewind: The Elevator Plunge
Posted January 25, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a Friday afternoon and everyone was looking forward to going home. But some wouldn’t get there.
It was 4:30pm on January 27, 2006, and employees were leaving the Canada Life Tower on University Ave. for the weekend. They’d taken the elevator down to the garage when the unthinkable happened – the cage started plummeting to the ground at breakneck speed.
Five people – three men and two women – were on the car in the 15-storey building when it suddenly gave way.
It fell five floors, leaving those onboard with painful injuries.
Paramedics who rushed to the building had trouble reaching the scene of the accident, because of the cramped space they had to work with.
“Most of their injuries were … broken ankles, shock,” outlined Dist. Chief Gary Hewson of Toronto Fire Services. “I mean you fall five floors, I imagine you’d be in a little bit of shock yourself. They were pretty calm when we got them off the elevator.
“The crews worked really well together, the ambulance. We had to literally bring them up the ramps on stretchers, so that was the hardest part.”
Officials were baffled at the time about the cause of the dangerous descent. Ontario has strict standards for high capacity office elevators that are designed to prevent such incidents. They’re supposed to be equipped with failsafe mechanisms that stop them from falling too far.
That obviously didn’t work.
It would take months, but the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, which looks after the regulation of elevators, claims the machine didn’t meet safety requirements. They’ve since charged the company that made the device, Fujitec Canada Inc., with five counts of violating safety requirements, including failing to replace worn or defective parts.
The elevator suffered a major loss of its hydraulic fluid after its single bulkhead failed, and caused it to fall without the usual safety measures kicking in.
And now those who were onboard that regretful ride have launched a class action lawsuit to seek damages for their pain. Marianne Dimain will bring you their story on CityNews at Six.
To see our original story on this case, click the video links.
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