Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Elevator Constructors Commend Efforts to Protect Children from Dangerous In-Home Elevators

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Three companies that sell in-home elevators agreed to federal regulators’ request earlier this month to recall their products for being dangerous to children. Elevator Constructors (IUEC) General President Frank Christensen welcomed the companies’ recall, as well as the work of regulators at the Consumer Product Safety Commission and advocacy groups like Kids in Danger that helped make it happen.

“Residential elevators, when not properly installed, inspected and modified, are not safe, especially for children who have been hurt and even killed after becoming trapped between residential elevators’ interior car and exterior hall doors. The gap between these two doors—ultimately, a very preventable issue—turns in-home elevators into death traps,” Christensen explained in a press release last week. “As long as this hazard exists, our union will do everything in its power to assist in identifying a sustainable, affordable solution to this problem, which we strongly believe should include a combination of regular inspections, proper registration policies and the incorporation of space guards where needed.”