Six residence hall elevators, including the one that killed an Ohio State student Friday night, failed standard elevator brake tests.
All six elevators were shut down Tuesday and will remain closed.
The testing by the Ohio Department of Commerce came after OSU freshman Andrew Polakowski was killed while trying to escape an elevator packed with 24 people in Stradley Hall on Friday.
Polakowski was pinned between the third floor and the elevator and suffocated. The brake testing was part of an ongoing investigation into what caused the accident, police said.
“To my knowledge, this is the only (elevator) accident in my 32 years here at Ohio State,” said Rich Hollingsworth, interim vice president of Student Affairs.
The state’s chief elevator inspector, Norm Martin, said a static brake test measures the stopping ability of an elevator’s electrical brakes holding a load at 125 percent of its capacity. Those electrical brakes slow the elevator before the mechanical brakes stop it. The brake test is done every five years.
Six of the elevators tested in high-rise residence halls were shut down: two in Stradley, two in Smith and one each in Park and Steeb Halls, said Molly Ranz, director of Facilities, Planning and Support at OSU. All elevators in Morrison, Seibert, Drackett, Jones and Taylor towers passed.
The elevators that failed the brake test will be out of service until the state completes its investigation and repairs, Ranz said. The elevators should be back online by next week.
OSU has contracts with Abell Irvin Elevator Service Co. for service on its residence hall elevators, Ranz said. The company performs brake tests once every five years, she said.
The last static brake test for the elevator that killed Polakowski was Aug. 18, 2003, Ranz said. What happened between that test and the accident is still under investigation. The packed elevator was an estimated 800 pounds over its 2500-pound limit, but authorities have not said whether the extra weight contributed to the accident.
“It is very unusual,” Hollingsworth said.
Rumors of alcohol involvement were eliminated by a written statement issued by Assistant Chief of University Police Rick Amweg. Amweg said there was no criminal activity or alcohol involved in the accident and the students wanted to stay as one group as they left the residence hall to attend a campus party at about 11:30 p.m.
Student Affairs has posted signs around and in all elevators on campus reminding students of what Hollingsworth said are common sense rules.
“This is all stuff you learn as kids,” Hollingsworth said. “You don’t jump around or overload an elevator.”
No one could confirm whether Polakowski would have survived had he not tried to get out. Martin could only refer to a hypothetical situation that would involve a static brake failure.
“If it failed, the velocity would increase and safeties would have tripped. Had it continued to the pit there would have been a bump and you may fall down but it would not be catastrophic,” he said.
Martin said the age of the elevator, built in 1958, was not a factor in the accident. Several upgrades have been made to the elevator including a reliability upgrade in 1998.
Hollingsworth said the university will continue to investigate.
“We will look at every possible issue,” Hollingsworth said. “We are committed to safe elevator rides for the students.”
