[Falling Elevators] ① Increasing Elevator Accident Deaths... Neglected Maintenance Is the Culprit

Elevators Used Daily in Apartments, Subways, and Construction Sites
37 Lives Lost in Elevator Accidents Over 6 Years
Focus on Cost Over Safety Due to Lowest Bid Tenders
Shrinking Industry... No Capacity to Comply with Safety Regulations

Editor's NoteElevators are not safe. When elevator accidents occur, they result in falls that cause casualties. Koreans use 860,000 elevators installed nationwide every day, and nearly 400 people have been injured in elevator accidents over the past six years, with 37 of them losing their lives. Elevator accidents stem from structural problems in the maintenance industry. To ensure elevator safety, the causes and solutions will be examined over three installments.

#. On January 22 this year, at an apartment construction site in Godeok-dong, Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi Province, A, a man in his 30s working as an elevator repair technician, was climbing a ladder installed on the inner wall of the elevator shaft. The accident happened in an instant. The elevator suddenly started moving, and A lost his balance and fell 4 to 5 meters down to the floor of basement level 2. He was transported to a nearby hospital by emergency responders who arrived at the scene but died.

#. On March 23 this year, around 7:52 a.m., a woman in her 70s, B, a resident of an apartment in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon, died in the elevator shaft. She fell to the basement level 2 floor while trying to forcibly open the elevator door to rescue her dog, which was caught by its collar and unable to get on the elevator.

#. On October 14, at a 5-star hotel in Jung-gu, Incheon, C, a man in his 30s working on elevator replacement, fell from the 12th floor above ground to basement level 2. During the dismantling work for replacement, the elevator suddenly dropped while he was inside. C was taken to the hospital by the 119 emergency team but died.

Elevator accidents continue unabated. From 2019 to November this year, there have been a total of 369 serious elevator accidents. As of the end of September nationwide, there are 860,060 elevators. This includes 34,980 escalators, 5,920 moving walkways, and 4,687 wheelchair lifts. The remaining approximately 810,000 are elevators. Considering the number installed, one might think accidents are rare. However, like airplanes, when elevator accidents occur, they immediately lead to casualties. Fatal accidents have notably increased this year.

According to the Korea Elevator Safety Agency on the 11th, as of November this year, there have been 9 deaths due to serious elevator accidents. Elevator accident deaths were 3 in 2019 but surged to 10 in 2020, then decreased to 5 in 2021 and 4 in 2022. However, last year it rose again to 6, and this year has already surpassed last year's death toll.

Looking at the causes of elevator accidents, user error accounts for nearly half. This is followed by worker error, maintenance company error, and management entity error. Although accidents caused by user error are frequent, responsibility cannot be shifted entirely to the victims with only safety education. Since most accidents occur in elevators already installed and in operation, there are management gaps behind user errors leading to serious accidents. The biggest problem is that proper maintenance cannot be afforded at the right cost.

An elevator technician is inspecting the electrical system while conducting a safety check on the external elevator at a Seoul subway station. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

Maintenance costing 200,000 won contracted for 40,000 won

According to the '2024 Elevator Standard Maintenance Cost' announced by the Korea Elevator Safety Agency in November last year, the weekday daytime maintenance cost for a passenger elevator in a six-story apartment is 197,000 won per inspection. Typically, inspections are conducted once a month, and this cost includes labor, transportation, consumables excluding safety parts, and technical fees.

However, large companies capable of economies of scale have lowered the bidding price for apartment elevator maintenance to around 30,000 to 40,000 won. This is the result of low-price competition to satisfy residents who are reluctant to see management fees rise. In such cases, to be selected as the maintenance company in a 100% lowest-price bid, the bid must be under 40,000 won. An industry insider said, "To perform maintenance work properly and make a profit, the cost should be around 130,000 to 140,000 won, about 70% of the standard maintenance cost." The gap between '140,000 won' and 'under 40,000 won' causes poor maintenance and leads to accidents.

On the other hand, to cover this gap, irregular methods are employed. An industry insider explained, "Maintenance contracts are won under loss-making conditions, and according to their own 'rules' known only within the industry, parts that do not need replacement due to their service life are replaced prematurely to generate profit."

Either way, domestic elevators do not receive proper safety inspections and normal maintenance where parts are replaced accordingly. Lee Seon-soon, Executive Director of the Korea Elevator Maintenance Industry Cooperative, pointed out this reality, saying, "Ultimately, both residents and maintenance companies suffer losses."

Maintenance focused on money rather than safety

The reason basic maintenance for elevator safety is done at low prices lies in the structural problems of the domestic elevator market. As of the end of last year, there are 140 domestic elevator manufacturers registered with the Korea Elevator Industry Cooperative and the Korea Elevator Maintenance Industry Cooperative, of which 133 are small and medium-sized enterprises. Regarding maintenance service providers, there are 815 companies, including 8 large corporations and 807 SMEs. Many manufacturers also provide maintenance services, so the total number of related companies in Korea is about 860.

The market size is about 5.23 trillion won, with manufacturing and installation accounting for 2.9548 trillion won (57%) and maintenance and service for 2.276 trillion won (44%). Among these, large and global companies such as Hyundai, Otis, TK, Mitsubishi, and Schindler account for about 4.7 trillion won, or 90% of total sales. The remaining 10% is contested by over 800 domestic SMEs, which have no choice but to accept the low prices set by large companies.

Because maintenance focuses on money rather than safety, proper inspections are difficult to conduct on site. At a regular elevator inspection site at Amsa Station on Seoul Subway Line 8 visited on the 25th of last month, simple inspections were conducted using equipment without stopping the elevator. Whether parts functioned properly was checked only visually. The reason given was that it is difficult to stop operation due to heavy user traffic at subway station elevators.

The mandatory 'two-person team' rule requiring at least two workers for elevator safety operation and management is often not followed. This is because there is a shortage of funds to hire personnel for maintenance sites. Park Gap-yong, CEO of Hanjin Elevator, which has independently developed elevator manufacturing and maintenance technology since 1987 after working at Otis, said, "It is not just that human resources are limited; there are no people. Even to find welding personnel, unless they are foreigners, the reality is that they are mostly over 60 years old."