Had a counterweight derail last Tuesday in a 20-story building downtown

We were doing a routine rope replacement on a 15 year old Otis. Someone left the buffer bolts loose on the last service 3 years ago. The car dropped maybe 2 feet before the safeties caught it. Lucky nobody was in the pit at the time. Anyone else seen this kind of thing from rushed maintenance?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler6141mo agoTop Commenter

3 years with loose buffer bolts is wild. I used to think those annual inspections caught stuff like that, but hearing this makes me realize how much can get missed. Gotta triple check those pit details now.

the_hugo1mo ago

Yeah, "triple check those pit details" is exactly right, but honestly, I've seen guys get so caught up in the big obvious stuff they miss the small bolts. That reminds me, @tyler614, I once had a buddy who found a loose nut on a flywheel after a full annual inspection and the inspector had signed off on everything. It was just sitting there, barely finger tight, and nobody caught it because they were all focused on the engine mounts and control cables. These inspectors are human, they get tunnel vision, and if the buffer bolts are hidden under a cover or in a tight spot, it's easy to overlook them for years. I'm not sure how you'd fix the system without making every inspection take a week, but it's definitely a reminder to never trust the paperwork alone.