Child dies in SWO elevator

Mrs OBumble

I see from RTE (http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0117/498559-galway-lift-accident/) that he's being buried here after a prayer service tomorrow.

Anyone know if it's a public service, and any details?

MelanieD

The Indo have an article online describing the last moments of this poor boy's life. Completely unnecessary and too upsetting to read.

Rip Solomen.

nuac

Sympathies to his family

Doom

MelanieD wrote: »

The Indo have an article online describing the last moments of this poor boy's life. Completely unnecessary and too upsetting to read.

Rip Solomen.

Its a bit too much alright, terrible for the family.

aw

Such a terrible story.

However, I fear we are going to hear a lot more about this.

It is noteworthy that the family have engaged Gerard O'Donnell to act for them in this case.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/mother-of-child-who-died-in-galway-office-lift-calls-for-investigation-to-be-made-public-1.1659745

Mrs OBumble

aw wrote: »

Such a terrible story.

However, I fear we are going to hear a lot more about this.

It is noteworthy that the family have engaged Gerard O'Donnell to act for them in this case.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/mother-of-child-who-died-in-galway-office-lift-calls-for-investigation-to-be-made-public-1.1659745

I'm sorry, but what exactly is there to FEAR about more publicity - except for the person(s) responsible?

The idea that the whole event should be swept under the carpet is Irish gombeenism at its worst.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I'm sorry, but what exactly is there to FEAR about more publicity - except for the person(s) responsible?

+1

I think most people would like to find out what exactly happened as it's not very clear at all how it was possible for the poor kid to end up where he did.

GerardKeating

Andres Quiet Specialist wrote: »

+1

I think most people would like to find out what exactly happened as it's not very clear at all how it was possible for the poor kid to end up where he did.

I have toddlers who get excited with lifts,so would like to know how this happened, so that i can watch for this eventuality.

shampoosuicide

the way it's been described in that Indo article doesn't make any sense. why would they be panicking so much in the first place if he was in the lift? just meet him whichever floor it stops at. doesn't seem like an immediately dangerous situation.

GerardKeating

shampoosuicide wrote: »

the way it's been described in that Indo article doesn't make any sense. why would they be panicking so much in the first place if he was in the lift? just meet him whichever floor it stops at. doesn't seem like an immediately dangerous situation.

If I was on one of the upper floors and my 3 year old went down in the lift on his own, I would panic, once on the ground floor, it's a few moments to the street and traffic...

But the reports are conflicting at present, maybe some journalist license or filling in blanks with theory.

aw

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I'm sorry, but what exactly is there to FEAR about more publicity - except for the person(s) responsible?

The idea that the whole event should be swept under the carpet is Irish gombeenism at its worst.

In fairness, you misconstrued my comment.

The previous posters were talking about how awful the case was and not liking reading about it. We will be hearing a lot more about it, that was my point. I really don't think this can or will be 'swept under the carpet', as you put it, which at no point did anyone suggest.

GerardKeating wrote:

the reports are conflicting at present, maybe some journalist license or filling in blanks with theory.

It's a very strange case, media reports are conflicting.
Also, staff reports from the people working there are painting a different picture again.

I'm sure we will hear the findings in due course from the two investigations.

What I'm trying to figure out is how the child got from inside the elevator and into the shaft? I'm wondering if the floor collapsed or some such as there's quite a lot of this story the reads like those reporting it are making it up as they go along.

SpaceTime

There was quite clearly some kind of mechanical or safety system failure.
Lifts do not go wrong very often and are generally incredibly safe pieces of machinery (much safer than travelling by escalator or even taking the stairs).

It's basically impossible to cause a lift to injure you if it's operating normally. Everything's interlocked and there's no way of entering the shaft of the lift unless something has gone horribly wrong with the machinery.

We really need to wait for the HSA to conclude its investigation before we know what happened.

It sounds like an absolutely tragic and horrendous accent. RIP and my condolences to his family and also to anyone else who was involved.

Redhairedguy

Again, it's probably best to try not to speculate too much on how exactly this tragedy occured.

I too am interested to know what the hell happened, as until the official HSA report is released, I'm left scratching my head.

Iwannahurl

All I can say is that following this tragedy in Galway, and after hearing a report from someone who witnessed an incident whereby the doors opened onto an empty lift shaft several floors up, I am no longer taking lifts for granted, especially when children are present.

fishy fishy

shampoosuicide wrote: »

the way it's been described in that Indo article doesn't make any sense. why would they be panicking so much in the first place if he was in the lift? just meet him whichever floor it stops at. doesn't seem like an immediately dangerous situation.

when my three year old child moved behind me where he was hidden from me for a split second, I would panic. To have him in a lift, too small to know what to do, most parents would be beside themselves. Reality check. :rolleyes:

shampoosuicide

Iwannahurl wrote: »

All I can say is that following this tragedy in Galway, and after hearing a report from someone who witnessed an incident whereby the doors opened onto an empty lift shaft several floors up, I am no longer taking lifts for granted, especially when children are present.

the statistical chances of being injured by an elevator are ridiculously low. wouldn't be surprised if it was the first incidence of this kind in ireland. obviously it's a horrific tragedy but if you're going to suddenly be worried about elevators you should probably be worried about letting your children leave the house at all. actually they're probably in more danger in the house now that i mention it

Doom

From HSA....safety alert

http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Safety_Alerts/Passenger_Safety_Alert/

dilallio

Doom wrote: »

From HSA....safety alert

http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Safety_Alerts/Passenger_Safety_Alert/

Thanks Doom

Does anyone know what make of lift is in Hynes building?

Mrs OBumble

Doom wrote: »

From HSA....safety alert

http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Safety_Alerts/Passenger_Safety_Alert/

So they seriously expect us to believe that this could happen to any make/model of lift, and is not either a design flaw in the particular model or a maintenance fc*kup in the particular list.


'Cmon, we're Irish, not stoopid.

SpaceTime

I agree. They should immediately publicise the make and model. This could be an EU-wide or even worldwide issue that needs to be resolved ASAP.

It's also going to cause undue concern for owners / users of perfectly safe elevators that are totally unaffected by this.

I'm not aware of any lift manufacturer that is unique to the Irish market. They're all big global brands that are at most just installed / serviced locally.

If there's a problem with a particular make / model all examples of that model should be immediately taken out of service and modified or replaced.

beardybrewer

I can't make sense of this.

An issue has been identified with a number of passenger lifts when in motion between floors, should pressure be applied to open the doors the following occurs:

the lift car will stop,
the doors on the affected passenger lifts will then cycle open exposing persons to a potential hazard,
the doors will then close again, once they are not obstructed,
the lift will continue to its destination as normal.

Are they implying there was an attempt to actively pry the doors open?

Mrs OBumble

That imiplication would be consistent with some of the media reports about what happened: child ran ahead of parent into lift, door closed before anyone else could get in - what would you logically expect both the parent and the child to do?

gordongekko

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

That imiplication would be consistent with some of the media reports about what happened: child ran ahead of parent into lift, door closed before anyone else could get in - what would you logically expect both the parent and the child to do?

wait for the lift to open normally. If it was a train what would you do?

maki

gordongekko wrote: »

wait for the lift to open normally. If it was a train what would you do?

Bear in mind this was a panicking child, not a seasoned commuter.

I'm assuming from the notice that the doors were pried open from the inside, not the outside.

SpaceTime

Doors shouldn't open between floors - end of story really.
Doesn't matter what the passenger does and I don't really imagine a kid that age could have put much force on the doors.

In the event of a lift becoming stuck, the normal procedure would be that someone would resolve the problem and the lift is safely brought down to the next available floor and people exit normally. There's no purpose to opening the doors between floors.

gctest50

An issue has been identified with a number of passenger lifts when in motion between floors, should pressure be applied to open the doors the following occurs:

Just don't apply pressure to lift doors

SpaceTime

What I would add though is that in general lifts are many, many times safer than stairs or even footpaths. You're extremely unlikely to be injured by a lift.

This was a pretty freak and tragic accident and it needs to be gotten to the bottom of a.s.a.p. and any faulty equipment taken out of service globally not just in Ireland.

inisboffin

I had a door catch my arm as a kid, and the lift moved. Ancient lift though, but still. I had a bruise and was terrified but was really lucky Once is too many. It was one of the older lifts with the grated door, that wasn't supposed to move with the grating open.

SpaceTime

Those old lifts are another story entirely.

I would like to see what the lift regulations are in Ireland though.

I would assume they must have to comply with some kind of EU regulations at the very least. Although, I couldn't point you to them.