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Could you survive falling down
an elevator shaft?
How about being trapped inside
an elevator for days?
Or being inside a falling elevator?
These are just some of the horrible
things that can go wrong every time you
step inside an elevator.
These hazards don’t stop millions of
people from riding elevators every day.
But by the end of this video, you might
just want to take the stairs.
Incidents involving elevators kill about
27 people and seriously injure 10,000
people each year in the United States.
If you ride elevators often,
you’ve probably imagined what you’d do
if the elevator started plummeting to
the ground.
But have you ever planned for all the
other things that can go wrong?
You might feel restless and anxious to
get out of the elevator
but find the patience to wait inside.
Regardless of whether the elevator doors
are closed shut or slightly open
or even slightly moving,
don't try to get out on your own.
If you try climbing out
of a malfunctioning elevator,
there's an enormous risk of getting
caught between the elevator door
and the shaft.
So you would be safer inside the cabin.
In 2019, a man was crushed to death by
a malfunctioning elevator at
a Manhattan luxury high-rise.
The man was in an elevator that opened
its doors at the lobby
and then began to fall.
He instinctively shot out his right hand
to grab the frame of the elevator door
and tried to plant his right leg into a
sliver of lobby floor,
he was immediately overpowered.
If you are afraid of being in this situation
in the first place,
or if you know that the elevator has not
been working properly,
wait a few seconds before you step
inside it.
In most situations,
if it's going to malfunction,
it will happen right after the doors open.
That slight delay might protect you
from getting caught in between the doors,
or trapped between the shaft
and the cabin.
If you're trapped, most elevators have
a button you can press to call for help.
So if the elevator malfunctions,
the first thing you should do is to press
the alarm button.
If the power is off,
you can also use your phone
to call for help.
Calling professionals to help you
is also the best solution
if the elevator jams between floors
or the door won’t open.
But if the help button and your phone
don't work,
you won’t run out of air,
so scream for help.
If the elevator you are stuck in is on fire,
step away from the fire and keep
your head down.
Luckily for you, firefighters can
control the elevators,
get you to a floor,
open the doors and get you out safely.
If the elevator malfunctioned because
the power went out and then came
back on,
pressing all the buttons or the open
and close door buttons might
just fix the issue.
If there is even a slight chance
of it working it’s worth trying.
However, do not smash the buttons
because that will only make things worse.
Elevator malfunctions are quite rare
compared to how many elevator rides
we take a day,
and dying or being possibly injured is
even rarer.
But you can never be too prepared.
So if you want to find out what to do
in a falling elevator,
keep watching here