Staten Island Elevator and Escalator Accident Lawyer
Injured in an Elevator Accident or an Escalator Accident? Call Our Staten Island Elevator and Escalator Accident Lawyer for Help
One of the most common causes of personal injuries that many people take for granted are elevators and escalators. According to statistics, elevator and escalator accidents result in more than 30 fatalities and 17,000 injuries each year in the United States. Other statistics place the number of injuries to be over 18,000 per year, with the most common causes being errant door functioning (37%), abrupt starts and stops (27%), misleveling (25%), and other causes such as shocks or falls (11%). Our Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents lawyer knows that anyone can be injured in such an accident, including guests, employees, and workers maintaining the apparatus. Despite numerous safety codes for elevator and escalator safety, far too many property owners and maintainers cut corners to save money by delaying repairs and refusing to replace equipment that is no longer safe. Unfortunately, after an accident, they also refuse to fairly pay victims and their families.
Here at the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm, our skilled legal team can help hold negligent defendants responsible for the damages that they cause. Whether a repair was pushed off, improperly done, or simply ignored, our Staten Island elevator and escalator accident lawyer can determine who was at fault and what compensation that a victim and his or her family may be entitled to. To learn more about your rights to compensation and how our compassionate and skilled team can help you, contact us today to schedule a free case evaluation.
How Staten Island Elevator and Escalator Accidents Occur in New York
There are many different types of elevator and escalator accidents. Unfortunately, they often occur when they are least expected – including when you do something that has been done many times before, such as sticking your arm to stop a door from closing on someone or walking into an elevator. However, this time the door doesn’t close or the elevator floor is not level, causing you to trip and fall. Many of these types of accidents could happen every day, but don’t when an elevator is properly maintained.
Examples of Elevator Accidents
According to the statistics above, elevator accidents are what cause the majority of all elevator and escalator accident injuries or wrongful deaths. Indeed, many elevators are operating at much greater heights and speeds as escalators. Elevators also have more moving parts and equipment, therefore requiring a greater level of maintenance and monitoring that some defendants just simply fail to do.
Some of the most common examples of elevator accidents in Staten Island include the following:
- Misleveling
- Errant door functioning, especially closing hard and suddenly
- Abrupt starts, even when it is expected it might not be a smooth increase but a sudden jolt
- Abrupt stops, failing to slow to a stop but abruptly overshooting and then stopping hard
- Errant acceleration or deceleration as a car travels up and down
- Operating at too fast of a speed (overspeeding conditions)
- Defective or broken braking systems
- Improper hoist cable maintenance
- Slip and falls or trip and falls, either when getting into, getting off, or while inside of a car
- Electric shocks from pushing buttons or other parts of the riding car
- Improperly secured handrails or other side rails to holding onto
- Loss of power or getting stock
- Fires or smoke
- Caught in a door or in a car
- Defective parts that should have been replaced, and
- Other common causes of elevator accidents due to reckless, careless, or outright negligent conduct of a property owner, tenant, maintainer, repair company, or another entity responsible for the elevator.
Examples of Escalator Accidents
Although elevator accidents may account for the majority of injuries, escalator accidents often result in significant trauma. According a statistical review, almost half of all escalator accident victims were admitted into the hospital with roughly 55% staying in a hospital for more than 24 hours. Many of these injuries are to guests and employees who regularly use an escalator to get to their next location, but some are while serving escalators which are dangerous to work on.
Some of the most common examples of escalator accidents in Staten Island include the following:
- Finger entrapment, including at the bottom comb plate or the handrail entry
- Foot or toe entrapment at the bottom comb plate or in-between steps
- Slip and fall or trip and fall accidents
- Getting clothing caught in the escalator that can cause asphyxiation or traumatic injuries
- Electric shocks
- Falling over elevators with low rails or railing systems
- Abrupt stopping or shifting of an escalator
- Emergency or stop buttons failing to operate properly
- Abrupt starting without warning that causes a sharp jolt, and
- Other types of defects or errant behavior that result in serious personal injuries that our Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents lawyer can handle for victims and their families.
Common Elevator and Escalator Accident Injuries in Staten Island
There are many different types of personal injuries that could be caused by an elevator or escalator accident in Staten Island. Additionally, the demographic of who is injured also changes with the type of lift. As it relates to elevator accidents, the majority of injuries are to older adults over the age of 65. Unfortunately, escalator accidents are more likely to disproportionally cause serious injuries to young children who are less than five years old. This matters for the injuries, as most older adults will suffer broken bones whereas young children will suffer lacerations or amputations.
The most common types of personal injuries caused by elevator and escalator accidents in Staten Island and the rest of New York include the following:
- Broken bones or a fracture
- Amputations or loss of a digit, hand or foot, or a limb (either partial or total)
- Significant disfigurement or scarring
- Brain injuries (including traumatic brain injuries)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Paralysis
- Dislocations or separations
- Nerve injuries or damage
- Back injuries or neck injuries, including herniated discs
- Need for surgeries, including spinal fusions, open reduction of a fracture, or joint surgeries
- Shoulder or arm surgeries, including SLAP tears, rotator cuff tears, triceps tears, biceps tears, and other impingement, disassociation, or a/c joint injuries
- Knee or leg injuries, especially to the knee or hip, including labrum tears, knee ligament tears of the ACL, PCL, MCL, or LCL, or meniscus tears
- Burn injuries
- Wrongful death, and
- Other types of serious or catastrophic personal injuries caused by Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents.
Who Could be Liable for Elevator and Escalator Accidents in Staten Island?
Although usually catastrophic, elevator and escalator accidents can be difficult to prove due to liability. Generally, New York law requires all property owners to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe manner. However, many buildings with elevators or escalators involve not just property owners, but also tenants, property managers, and maintenance teams. This is particularly true of the complex machines that elevators and escalators have become over the years. As a result, liability can often be murky as to who was responsible for the maintenance, monitoring, and actual repairs of an elevator or escalator.
Fortunately, there are many safety codes from the ASME as well as ANSI/ASME guidelines relating to the design, construction, maintenance, repair, and overall operation of escalators and elevators in New York and Staten Island. There are also local laws in New York that place certain requirements on property owners and tenants who have a working elevator and escalator, including maintenance logs and repair logs.
Using the records of past upkeep and maintenance, a thorough Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents lawyer like ours can help victims and their families discover who has been previously monitoring, inspecting, and repairing the subject elevator or escalator that caused the accident. Additionally, most elevators and escalators are under constant surveillance, and therefore also create a video record of how often they have been inspected and checked for defects or other dangers.
How Much is the Average Elevator and Escalator Accidents Lawsuit in Staten Island?
Unfortunately, there is no magic calculator or formula to determine what a victim’s total recovery may be under New York law. Indeed, the total recovery for Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents can vary on many different factors. Some of the most important factors that dictate how much and what a victim can recover include the following:
- Age of the victim
- Type of injury (i.e., broken bones or amputation)
- Whether there was surgery
- Past pain and suffering
- Future pain and suffering, including future restrictions
- Whether a victim may need additional surgeries in the future
- Lost wages
- Lost future earnings if unable to work in the same field or career due to the injuries
- Nursing home or 24/7 nursing care in-home
- Venue and county where a trial may be held in
- Future limitations and restrictions
- Loss of consortium and impact on dependents
- Whether the cause of the accident was outrageous, shocks the conscience, and was grossly negligent and therefore warrants punitive damages (rare and exceptional cases only)
- Wrongful death damages, and
- Other types of personal injuries that a victim and his or her family suffered as the result of an elevator and escalator accident in New York.
Get Help From Our Staten Island Elevator and Escalator Accident Lawyer
Elevators and escalators are powerful and technologically-advanced pieces of equipment that help lift us and carry us to locations at a faster and much more convenient manner. Most people use them every day without a second thought, including young children. Although most elevators and escalators are properly maintained and serviced, unfortunately far too many are not. This can result in serious personal injuries that become life-changing or even life-threatening.
If you or a loved one were seriously injured in any type of elevator, escalator, or another type of lift on a property, call our Staten Island elevator and escalator accidents lawyer at the O’Connor Personal Injury Law Firm for help. Our compassionate and experienced team offer free case evaluations to victims and their families, allowing you to ask tough questions of our personal injury lawyer and legal team. To learn more about your rights under New York law, schedule your free consultation by dialing (866) 927-3809 or by sending us an email through our “Contact Us” box available here.