U-Tek Elevator Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jan 23, 2018 (fatal): Employee falls down an elevator shaft and is killed

At 8:50 a.m. on January 23, 2018, a crew, consisting of two helpers and a mechanic, were located on the sixth floor of a building, connecting and locking the steel cables for the counterweight of an elevator. During work, they determined that they would move from the 6th floor to the 9th floor to obtain better light. As the crew was running the elevator shaft platform from the 6th floor to the 9th floor, they realized that the platform was not stopping. After multiple attempts to stop the platform, the mechanic jumped toward the landing of the mechanical room of an adjacent elevator on the ninth floor; however, was not successful and fell 94 feet to his death. The two helpers, who were wearing safety harnesses, were dragged along with the frame of the landing platform until they reached the twelfth floor, exiting the shaft through the elevator door on the eleventh floor. One of the helpers injured his head and shoulder that were stuck by the walls of the elevator shaft as he was dragged upward. The incident investigation revealed that the mechanic was not wearing a personal fall arrest system.