From residences, shopping malls to office buildings, our life and work everywhere are accompanied by elevators, the moment we take the elevator, we enjoy its speed and convenience, but also face its possible failures and risks in the use of the process, and the most important and direct means to eliminate the risk is the daily maintenance of the elevator. According to statistics, more than 10 million elevators have been put into use in mainland China, so the maintenance of elevators that are crucial to the safe operation is not carried out in accordance with relevant regulations, the reporter launched an investigation.
The escalator malfunctioned, and half of the woman's body was involved
Recently, in a supermarket in Fengxian District, Shanghai, a woman went upstairs shopping through the escalator when the escalator suddenly broke down, and the step pedal fell.
Due to the complex internal structure of the escalator, the fire rescue personnel who arrived quickly could not directly rescue the trapped woman, so they could only use a screwdriver to remove the movable panel of the escalator, and expand the stuck part through an electric expander and hydraulic struts.
After more than 30 minutes of intense rescue, the woman was successfully rescued and sent to the hospital for treatment. It is understood that the accident caused a large area of the woman's body to be injured, with separation of skin and flesh and multiple fractures.
The husband of the injured woman: The skin and flesh were separated, and debridement surgery was done, and there was skin grafting in the back, and the wound area was relatively large. If the infection is severe, there is a risk of amputation.
At present, although the woman is out of danger, she still has to face all kinds of pain caused by the next treatment.
Shanghai filed an investigation into the escalator "rolling" incident
After the accident, the local accident investigation team was quickly set up to investigate.
Su Dongjun, deputy director of the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Fengxian District, Shanghai: According to the preliminary judgment, the direct cause of the accident was the displacement and loosening of the fixed ring of the escalator pedal, which caused the pedal to fall off, the missing pedals on both sides of the upper and lower sides, and the failure of the protection device, resulting in the failure of the escalator to stop automatically.
Loose pedal fixing rings, missing upper and lower pedals, and failed protective devices – maintenance, installation and inspection were the focus of the investigation. In the interview, the reporter learned that the accident elevator is a second-hand escalator, and the maintenance is not the responsibility of the manufacturer, but a local enterprise in Shanghai.
The elevator is a complex mechatronics system, just as the car needs regular maintenance to ensure normal use and safety, the elevator also needs to be regularly maintained by professionals, so as to find and eliminate the potential safety hazards of the elevator in time and avoid the elevator running with disease. Whether the maintenance of the elevator in the accident is compliant, the local accident investigation team is investigating the relevant units involved.
Hangzhou strictly inspects elevator maintenance "going through the motions"
The elevator is the most frequently used special equipment for the masses. Routine maintenance is essential for the safe operation of the elevator. However, the reporter found in the investigation that the staff of some maintenance companies still have irregular behaviors in the daily maintenance of elevators.
On April 2, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Gongshu District, Hangzhou City, received a risk early warning information from the elevator intelligent supervision system, showing that an elevator maintenance unit in the jurisdiction had non-compliant operation behaviors. Law enforcement officers immediately went to the scene to carry out investigation work and retrieved relevant surveillance footage.
The surveillance video shows that on March 25, the maintenance personnel completed the on-site sign-in and sign-out in the elevator, scanned the code and uploaded the maintenance information, and then left, from 11:04:08 to 11:04:50 to leave the elevator, the whole process took less than a minute, just a formality, and no elevator maintenance work was carried out.
Zheng Qi, Deputy Chief of the Special Equipment Safety Supervision Section of Hangzhou Gongshu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau: General elevator maintenance, one is to go to the machine room, the second is to enter the shaft, and the third is the elevator car.
Two people maintain the elevator, and one person is a "paper man"
Coincidentally, recently, the law enforcement officers of the Huli District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Xiamen City also found abnormal phenomena when they conducted daily supervision and inspection of the maintenance of an elevator in a hospital in the jurisdiction.
Huang Qunli, Engineer of Jiangtou Institute of Xiamen Special Equipment Testing Institute in Huli District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau: I went into the shaft to inspect the maintenance quality of the elevator, and found that the oil cup of the elevator lacked oil, the sanitation of the pit was poor, and the threshold of the floor door was not kept clean.
The reporter learned that the oil cup mainly provides lubrication for moving parts such as elevator guide rails, and the appropriate amount of oil can ensure the normal operation of the elevator. According to the "Elevator Maintenance Rules", oil cups, manual emergency operation devices, drive hosts and other items require semi-monthly maintenance. At the scene, the reporter saw that the oil cup was in a state of lack of oil, and the elevator pit was full of dust and debris, but the paper records filled in by the maintenance personnel showed that the project had been completed according to the regulations. Subsequently, the law enforcement officers retrieved the smart supervision platform to check the maintenance records, and found that it was two maintenance personnel surnamed Guo, who were carrying out daily maintenance of the elevator, and also uploaded on-site maintenance photos according to the regulations.
However, the strange thing is that one of the "maintenance personnel" has a stiff expression, always maintains a posture and movement, and seems to refuse to show his face when taking pictures, and once even only shows the part above the eyes. Law enforcement officers found out that something was wrong, so they began to call up surveillance to find out the truth. The surveillance screen shows that there is only one maintenance personnel every time you enter the elevator, and the maintenance personnel who refuse to show their faces in the photo do not appear. A piece of paper caught the attention of law enforcement officers during the surveillance.
Guan Lijie, Chief of the Special Equipment Safety Supervision Section of the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Huli District, Xiamen City: One person carried out maintenance, and he brought in something like a piece of paper.
It turned out that the elevator maintenance personnel replaced one of the operators with a fake human-shaped stand, and put it on the top of the car to take photos and upload it, in an attempt to get through the customs in confusion. The "Xiamen Special Economic Zone Elevator Safety Management Regulations" stipulates that the on-site operators shall have the corresponding qualifications when implementing maintenance, and shall not be less than two people. In further investigation, law enforcement officers found that in the seven half-monthly maintenance operations as of March 11 this year, 6 of the maintenance personnel belonged to single maintenance, and the other one was a "paper man", and the prototype of this extraordinarily realistic "paper man" was his colleague. In order to get by, he also made two styles of long sleeves and short sleeves according to different seasons. Such a well-intentioned disguise is to cope with the check-in requirements of the two people from the regulatory platform.
Because the enterprise did not maintain the elevator in accordance with the requirements of the "Elevator Maintenance Rules", according to the relevant regulations, a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan was imposed, and the illegal gains were confiscated. At present, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Huli District, Xiamen City, has filed a case for investigation of the elevator maintenance unit involved in accordance with the law.
Completed without critical project testing
In addition to using the "paper man" for elevator maintenance, the reporter found that there were other operations that did not comply with the regulations. In an elevator surveillance video of this shopping mall, the reporter saw that a maintenance personnel not only did not wear a safety helmet when carrying out maintenance operations, but also deliberately omitted an important operation link.
An operation omitted by the maintenance personnel is called the elevator five-party intercom system test, which is an important item of semi-monthly maintenance. In the event of an emergency in the elevator, such as passengers being trapped or other malfunctions, through this system, the communication between all parties can make the emergency response more rapid and efficient. The law enforcement officers found that the maintenance personnel did not conduct a five-way call test at all, and checked the eligibility criteria.
In response to the problems found in the inspection, the Xiamen market supervision department has specially formulated a special rectification action plan for elevator maintenance units, severely cracked down on false maintenance and other illegal acts, and pioneered the inspector resident system in the country, and stationed 1 inspection technician in each of the city's 23 grassroots institutes to comprehensively improve the safety supervision ability of grassroots elevators.
Someone does it at a loss, and it will be a disaster to maintain it like this
According to the relevant provisions of the current "Elevator Maintenance Rules", the maintenance projects of elevators are divided into four categories: semi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual. So, what are the operating procedures required to complete the maintenance of an elevator? With this question, the reporter also followed the law enforcement officers and special equipment experts to supervise and spot check the maintenance work of residential elevators in the jurisdiction.
Special equipment experts told reporters that in the elevator car, elevator maintenance personnel need to check whether the emergency lighting device, alarm intercom system and car door anti-impact protection device in the car are working properly. In addition, the door lock system of the elevator car door and landing door can prevent passengers and goods from falling into the shaft, and whether the elevator door system is effective is also related to the operation safety of the elevator.
After verifying the maintenance of the elevator car, the inspection experts and maintenance personnel entered the shaft together to inspect the stopping device and electrical safety device of the elevator car roof and pit.
Zheng Shangtou, senior engineer of Hangzhou Special Equipment Inspection Science Research Institute: These (pit of the pit) electrical switches are like the eyes of the elevator, which can detect some abnormalities of the elevator and ensure that the car can effectively stop the elevator in the process of squatting.
But in order to realize the safe operation of the elevator, it is not enough to rely on the safety device of the car roof and the pit, and the encoder, speed limiter and brake located in the elevator machine room are also the key to ensure the smooth operation of the elevator. Therefore, maintenance personnel also need to carry out regular maintenance and inspection of these safety devices. In addition, the operation of the drive host and the fastening of the wiring in the control cabinet are also the focus of maintenance personnel in the computer room.
The reporter noticed that during the entire elevator maintenance operation, the operation time lasted nearly 40 minutes, and a total of 31 items were detected. In the process of operation, maintenance personnel must also comply with the implementation procedures of safe operation, correctly place safety guardrails, wear protective equipment, cut off the main power switch and lock it according to work needs, etc., so as to ensure the safety of their own work and passenger travel.
The number of elevators is growing, and maintenance personnel are facing a large gap
Such a rigorous work process, in some maintenance companies have become a "formality", according to special equipment experts to reporters, the current average maintenance price of a residential elevator is 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan a year, the lowest can be about 2,000 yuan. In recent years, the number of elevators in mainland China has been growing, but maintenance personnel are facing a large gap. The reporter interviewed and found that the industry is mobile, the scarcity of teachers is the dilemma faced by the elevator maintenance industry, high intensity, low return leads to the loss of maintenance personnel, and there are fewer and fewer people willing to engage in the industry. The "man-machine ratio" of maintenance work is also difficult to be reasonably controlled.
Lu Qiao, Secretary-General of Hangzhou Gongshu District Special Equipment Association: I think an average of 30 units per person is a more appropriate number, but it will be different according to the distance and the height of the floor. But at present, in the market, a person may maintain forty or fifty elevators, or even fifty or sixty, or more.
The person in charge of the elevator maintenance company involved also said frankly that the current elevator maintenance industry generally has fierce competition, low prices and personnel shortages.
Residential elevator maintenance costs are neither transparent nor oversighted
As a means of transportation for residents to "go out for the first time and go home for the last time", the safety of residential elevators is related to thousands of households. The reporter found in the investigation that residential elevators are generally owned by all owners, and the maintenance of elevators is often authorized to be entrusted to the property company. However, some property companies do not use special funds for elevator maintenance funds, which is neither transparent nor supervised.
The maintenance cost is 5,000 yuan, and the quotation is as low as one-fifth
Experts told reporters that the normal maintenance cost of an elevator for a year is generally about 5,000 yuan, but many property companies are greedy for cheap, and most of them choose the maintenance company with the lowest price. The real owners and users of the elevator have no right to speak at all.
Zhou Chunming, deputy director of the National Elevator Quality Inspection and Testing Center: There are great differences in a city, and some prices are so low that you can't imagine. The lowest 1 year may range from 800 to 1000.
Elevator maintenance goes through the motions to repair and maintain to make profits
The quotation is only one-fifth of the cost price, and it is impossible for the elevator maintenance company to buy and sell at a loss. Therefore, in the maintenance process, it is just a formality, or even repair instead of warranty. In other words, the so-called elevator maintenance has become a way to make money by relying on elevator failure and replacement parts. This not only easily leads to frequent elevator failures, but also may lead to personal safety accidents. For the phenomenon of elevator maintenance "going through the motions", the relevant regulatory authorities are strengthening law enforcement on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are also trying to enrich the means of supervision. The reporter learned that at present, Hangzhou fully implements the "one ladder and one code", and the maintenance personnel upload the real-time positioning, maintenance records and project duration and other information to the elevator intelligent supervision system by scanning the code, so as to realize paperless maintenance and information traceability. At the same time, the intelligent cameras and IoT sensing devices installed in the elevator can monitor the operation status of the elevator in real time, and further intelligently identify and risk early warning the non-compliant behavior of elevator maintenance. In the past two years, the "Elevator Wisdom" system in Gongshu District, Hangzhou has accumulated 645 times of early warning and non-standard maintenance.
Song Baiwen, Chief of the Special Equipment Safety Supervision Section of Hangzhou Gongshu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau: Although the current regulatory means are constantly enriched, in fact, we still have some difficulties in the work, such as how to determine that the elevator maintenance work is not carried out normally, especially the identification of some projects and contents, which requires technical experts to help us.
In response to the outstanding problems in the field of elevator safety, in 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Three-year Action Plan for Elevator Safety Bottoming (2023-2025)", deploying and carrying out the investigation and rectification of hidden dangers of elevator accidents, and the local market supervision departments focused on eliminating 77,000 accident hazards, exposing 116 typical cases, and included 39 companies in the list of serious violations and dishonesty. And will study and take targeted measures to eliminate the hidden dangers of accidents and ensure the safety of the people.
Elevator safety involves thousands of households, and the State Administration for Market Regulation continues to maintain strict investigation and punishment of illegal acts. Although the number of accidents in the country has declined steadily, the relevant departments should also strengthen the access management of the elevator maintenance market, eliminate market chaos, establish and improve the elevator maintenance service evaluation mechanism and credit system, and improve market transparency and credibility.
(Source: CCTV News)