Because kids respond to safety pitches only when there is an MC Skat Kat-esque mascot involved, the Department of Buildings is using "Safe-T Rider," the elevator safety cat (courtesy the Alabama-based Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation) to emphasize elevator—and escalator and moving walkway—safety to young New Yorkers during Elevator Safety Week!
The DOB isn't the only agency spreading the word. Yesterday, MTA employees have been handing out "Be A Safe Rider" activity books in select stations, with things like mazes and connect-the-dots to help teach kids about elevator and escalator safety. Kids can also sing along with Safe-T Rider on the website with such lyrical genius as "If the elevator isn't level with the floor / Then you should be alert that much more!" Who knew?
Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri has been visiting schools to teach kids how to "Ring, Relax and Wait" when there is an elevator emergency, and brought along his terrifying sidekick. Maybe rule one of Elevator Safety should be "Don't get in an elevator with someone in a Safe-T Rider costume."
