Death in Elevator Accident 

Regulatory agencies should be alive to their responsibilities

The death in an elevator accident of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Assistant Organising Secretary in Kano State, Abdulsalami Ginsau, has raised the issue of safety in many of our public buildings. Ginsau was said to have entered a malfunctioning elevator at an Abuja hotel last Friday morning and sank with it. His remains were discovered the following day after the hotel started perceiving an offensive odour that necessitated a search. His death serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of equipment maintenance and stringent safety measures in public buildings. We commiserate with the family of the deceased even as we call for a thorough investigation.

We are especially concerned that accidental deaths in elevators are becoming frequent, even when many go unreported. Within a period of one month in 2023, a Lagos medical doctor and an 18-year-old student at Lagos State Skills Acquisition Centre Technical School, Egan, died in elevator accidents. The teenager’s death occurred at a construction site in Ikoyi where he was observing an Industrial Training programme. He was trapped in the lift shafts overnight without anyone knowing. With no safety system in place, his bruised and lifeless body was discovered the following morning, eliciting shock and grief.  

The circumstances of the death of a medical doctor at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos, were slightly different. The young lady was riding in the elevator in the staff quarters of the hospital which later lost control and tumbled down from the ninth floor. She was reportedly alive for over an hour after the collapse of the machine. When she was eventually rescued and rushed to the emergency ward of the hospital, the non-availability of blood allegedly contributed to her death. 

 We concede that elevators do malfunctions in homes, offices, hotels, etc. But they are not on the high list of accidents like fire or building collapse. Elevator accidents could also be fatal, whether in the developing or the advanced world. From South Africa, Iran, Cambodia to Israel, Canada, United States and South Korea, accidents with severe casualties have been reported. Some have been attributed to defective doors, irregular speed or snapped wires, as well as electric or mechanical issue that mixes the signals in the elevator.

However, in other countries, lessons are learnt from these accidents that are usually investigated with the reports made public. That is not the case in Nigeria where many of the disasters that we witness are preventable. Safety demands more than good engineering. It takes independent regulation, and a meticulous, self-critical safety culture that endlessly searches for risks, according to most experts. At least, global best practices demand that elevators are regularly maintained and repaired. In our country, there have been cases where faults reported on elevators are practically ignored until disaster happens. This problem can also be located in lax regulation.

It is unfortunate that generally, regulatory authorities in the country are more reactive than proactive. They prefer to arrest a criminal rather than prevent the commission of a crime. Even the reactive approach to enforcement is fraught with unbearable inefficiency given response time to distress calls. The result is that lives are often lost before the intervention of these agencies. 

Going forward, we believe that the reactive approach to enforcement of regulation must change if the nation is to fundamentally check the spate of disasters enveloping it. We urge the regulatory agencies and disaster management bodies to embark on a massive public enlightenment on safety regulations, dangers of non-compliance and basic steps to take in the event of any untoward occurrence. The death of Ginsau should compel action on the need to ensure that the elevators in all public buildings in Nigeria are not only fit for purpose but also safe.