Building Where Woman Was Crushed In Elevator Had Elevator "Epidemic"

Investigators are still working to establish the cause of a freak elevator accident that crushed an advertising executive to death last month at the Y&R offices on Madison Avenue. The elevator company contracted to do maintenance on the elevators, Transel, had been working on the lift hours before Suzanne Hart was killed, but it's still unclear what caused accident. As one Y&R employee told us the day of the accident, it's an old building and the elevators "are a bit buggy sometimes." You can say that again: according to newly revealed Department of Buildings records, the old elevators at 285 Madison had bugs galore.

The Post was first to obtain the records, and the tabloid reports the building has had an elevator "epidemic." As it happens, the elevator that killed Hart had only been cited for a "paperwork problem," because it lacked a “certificate of compliance” with Buildings rules, as did several other elevators in the building. But those other elevators? Dios mio, man. City inspectors cited 11 violations against 13 elevators after the accident. One elevator's cable was not properly synced up with a groove on a pulley that moves the cable, another had nails instead of cotter pins "on shackles meant to hold heavy elevator car counterweights in place," and some cable clamps were improperly applied.

We're not elevator experts, but that doesn't sound reassuring. Oh, also, the mandatory annual tests were not conducted on parts of at least two elevators. Ever since this horrifying accident, we've been keenly aware of the elevator inspection certificates inside of every elevator we take. (We've also been tucking and rolling into elevators, as one commenter advised.) FYI: The NYC Building Code requires 3 inspections within 2 years.

Most Y&R employees have been working off-site since Hart was killed, but other businesses in the building have reopened. DNAinfo reported that building employees have been assigned to escort workers on the elevator rides up to their respective floors. But not everyone is reassured by their mere presence. "For my own sanity I just want to take the stairs," said one employee who works on the 12th floor. "It's just a mental thing."