The elevator company being probed in the freak death of ad exec Suzanne Hart did not follow basic rules governing elevator maintenance, sources tell DNAinfo. The website's well-connected investigative reporter Murray Weiss does not say where his sources are leaking from, but what they're telling him is damning: Transel Elevator Inc. did not inform the Buildings Department that it had finished work on the elevator that killed Hart—if it had, one final independent inspection would have been triggered by the a city inspector. more ›

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. more ›

Investigators trying to determine what caused Wednesday's horrific elevator death in a Madison Avenue building are focusing on a maintenance company that was working on the elevator hours before the malfunction. A Buildings Department spokesman says the company, Transel Elevator, had sent an unlicensed worker to do electrical work that morning. Why was the worker unlicensed? Well, as you may or may not know, you DON'T NEED A LICENSE TO WORK ON AN ELEVATOR IN NYC. As one union rep tells the Times, "Anyone with a set of tools can work on an elevator." Food for thought as you're climbing the stairs today. more ›

Suzanne Hart, the ad executive who was killed yesterday in a tragic elevator accident, was the victim of a rare but horrifying malfunction, which elevator expert Patrick Carrajat says he's heard of happening "five or six times" in the past. As Hart stepped into the elevator, it shot upward, and it is Carrajat's understanding that her torso was inside the elevator, while the bottom part of her body was forced between the elevator shaft. "From what I'm hearing, she was basically cut in half," Carrajat tells us. "In many ways it's better to be decapitated because the pain is over immediately." more ›

A retired "elevator executive" is opening the city's first Elevator Museum in Long Island City, which he calls "the nexus of the elevator world." What can you expect? more ›

Well, this is great: once those "magic key" holders get into the subway for free, they can take it all the way to your office building and unlock your elevator! They could be coming for you RIGHT NOW! The key, which has been sold for just $27 and can open 468 subway stations, works in "tens of thousands of buildings" with elevators, including every single commercial high-rise. City Councilman Peter Vallone said he was even more concerned about the key upon learning this. "We know terrorists are planning attacks on our subways and buildings, and we don't need to have keys that could help them in the wrong hands." more ›

A group of tenants living in public housing is filing a federal class-action lawsuit against the city for its failure to maintain elevators. The NY Times reports that the lawsuit notes that the "widespread and systemic failure to maintain the elevators in its buildings in operable working condition" is a violation of disability and human rights laws. Scrutiny of the NYC Housing Authority's care of elevators came into greater focus after a child fatally fell from a malfunctioning elevator last year, but tenants have complained about malfunctioning elevators for years. The Times offers many harrowing anecdotes from tenants, including: "Phyllis Gonzalez, 61...refers to the times when both elevators go out in her building in the Chelsea Houses as 'double-headers.' Ms. Gonzalez, who lives in a 12th-floor apartment and uses a wheelchair because of arthritis and other health problems, recalled the day a few years ago when, during a double-header, she went down 12 flights of stairs, sitting on one step at a time." The tenants are not looking for monetary damages—just for the NYCHA to fix the elevators in a timely fashion and provide for help the disabled and wheelchair-bound tenants when the elevators are out. more ›

A plan is going to be submitted to the MTA's board for approval this week to spend $1.3 million to install a computerized monitoring system for the subway systems 300+ elevators and escalators. The purpose is to speed the response when elevators and escalators are out of service. Currently, the MTA operates a web page that is updated three times a day to inform riders when escalators and elevators are out of service, but it is reliant on NYC Transit employees or riders themselves to report malfunctions. more ›