Turns out your risk for being in an elevator accident in New York City may be higher than you think. A new report issued by NYC’s comptroller shows that city-paid elevator inspectors are failing to provide an adequate service-specifically, they’re performing sub-par inspections and (in some cases) not inspecting lifts at all. This disturbing trend puts any one of us at risk of a serious-even potentially fatal-elevator accident in New York City.
The Department of Buildings is responsible for inspecting 71,000 elevators within the city. That’s far too many for the agency’s resources. That task is then doled out to subcontractors who allegedly do the work for the city. However, digging into the records kept by the DOB, the comptroller found that in 2016 nearly 6,000 inspections could have been skipped. In 2015 that number jumped to over 8,000.
In addition to the inspections that simply didn’t happen, the investigators found several glaring errors in the inspections that actually occurred. Specifically, several subcontracted inspectors were found to have filled out inspection documentation before actually looking at elevators. Others missed critical flaws that should have rendered those particular lifts unusable. Thankfully the agency didn’t link any of these faulty inspections to actual elevator accidents in New York but the risk is still very real.
If you’ve been hurt in an elevator misleveling, drop or other malfunction, one of the very first things a good elevator accident attorney in New York would do is check the maintenance log for that elevator and retain an expert to review the records and conduct a detailed inspection of the elevator in question. If the elevator was not inspected or maintained properly, the property owner and elevator maintenance company could be liable for your injuries, lost time from work and unpaid medical expenses.
The experienced New York City elevator accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Nussin S. Fogel can help you through every step of the compensation process. Contact them today. Call 800-734-9338 or 212-385-1122 right now.