Elevator Company should stand with your knees bent to absorb the impact

Posted by beranter on March 29th, 2016

Although Passenger Elevator are unlikely to fail, if they do, they are more likely to fail catastrophically than traction elevators. On the plus side, it's impractical to build a hydraulic lift higher than six stories, so you're only going to fall 60 to 90 feet. Then again, that means you'll hit the basement doing a brisk 48 to 53 mph. Ouch.

What to do

So, you're in a falling elevator. Life has given you proverbial lemons, and you have seconds to make some lemonade or end up as pulp. What to do?

Some people advocate jumping upward a split-second prior to impact to reduce your impact speed. Assuming you retain the presence of mind and Olympic reactions to pull this off, however, the best speed reduction you could hope for would be 2 or 3 mph. More likely, you'd hit your head on the ceiling and land badly, exacerbating your injuries.

Another suggestion holds that Elevator Company should stand with your knees bent to absorb the impact, like a skydiver.