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Elevator mechanic killed at Bronx building
Worker was crushed while performing upgrades
An elevator mechanic was killed on Thursday while working in a Bronx apartment building, city officials confirmed.
Mechanics were working at 133 East Clarke Place in the Concourse neighborhood when an elevator fell down a shaft and onto one of the workers, a Department of Buildings spokesperson confirmed. The 25-year-old worker, who has not been publicly identified, died from the injuries. A second mechanic was injured.
Champion Elevator was hired to upgrade the building’s elevator, including the installation of a door lock monitor, a November permit shows. The DOB hit the building owner, listed as the Kraus Organization, with a violation on Jan. 23, 2020 for failing to install the monitor, which prevents elevators from moving if the doors are open. Under city law, all elevators were required to have such equipment installed by Jan. 1, 2020.
A DOB spokesperson said it is not immediately clear what specific work was being performed at the time of the incident, but said the elevator was out of service.
Joseph Corrado, executive vice president of Champion, declined to discuss Thursday’s incident but said his company is complying with the DOB’s investigation. He offered condolences to the mechanic’s family. A representative from Kraus was not immediately available to discuss the incident.
Over the last few years, the Bronx property, a 53-unit apartment building, has been hit with other elevator-related violations. The DOB has also received more than a dozen complaints about the elevator not working. Such complaints started in October 2017 and persisted through 2019, according to the DOB’s website. “THE ELEVATOR HAS NOT BEEN WORKING FOR THREE WEEKS. IT WILL TURN ON FOR A DAY AND THEN BE BROKEN AGAIN. THERE ARE SIX FLOORS AND RESIDENTS THAT HAVE MULTIPLE HEALTH RELATED ISSUES,” one complaint from December 2019 reads.
The DOB oversees the safety enforcement of more than 60,000 passenger elevators in the city. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law that will require elevator mechanics to obtain licenses to work in the state, but the measure doesn’t kick in until January 2022.