Deadly NY elevator accident brings renewed attention to safety nationwide

LOS ANGELES - A deadly elevator accident in New York City is bringing renewed attention to elevator safety nationwide. 

FOX 11 reached out to our own Department of Building and Safety, and we found out the chances are very high. Some of the elevators you may be riding in have gone more than a year without being inspected as required.

The tragedy is raising questions about elevator safety nationwide, and what FOX 11 found is troubling. Here in the city of Los Angeles alone, there are 20,827 elevators, and as of this writing, approximately 9,300 elevators have annual inspections that are past due. 

The reason for such a backlog could be staffing. There are 19 safety engineer elevator inspections. The city of LA says it’s looking to hire more technicians to give all the elevators their proper annual checkup in a timely manner. 

As for New York, terrified residents are now weary of using the elevators until city inspectors figure out what went wrong. 

The chief inspector for the city of LA tells FOX 11 that they lost safety inspectors due to retirement, and they’re active looking to hire three more for a total of 22 inspectors. Even with that additional staff, each inspector would have to complete 947 inspections per year just to keep up.