Georgia State’s dorm elevators may not be as safe as one would hope. The likelihood of getting trapped in campus elevators isn’t uncommon, and students are more likely to get stuck in certain dorms over others.
Georgia State student Thomias Hughes found himself trapped alone in elevator two at Piedmont Central at the beginning of the spring semester. The elevator car became stuck coming down from the 11th floor, leaving Hughes stuck for “at least thirty minutes,” he said.
“The call button wasn’t working. It wasn’t working at all,” Hughes said.
In order to make it out, Hughes had to make a quick call to his mother, who then called campus security. And then his phone died. The elevator Hughes was stuck in has been out of service for most of this semester, and even now is still non-functional and down for maintenance.
However, Hughes isn’t alone in his unpleasant experience riding Georgia State’s residence hall elevators. Students Kamyra Jackson and Shaniya Stanley have also been in similar situations. Jackson doesn’t have the best luck with campus elevators and has gotten stuck three times -- in Piedmont North, Piedmont Central and even M-Deck. Her second most recent encounter was getting stuck in Piedmont North a little less than a month ago.
“The elevators get stuck over there a lot,” Jackson said.
Stanley had troubles with elevator three in Piedmont Central at the beginning of the spring semester when she was riding with a friend. Her friend exited the elevator but before Stanley stepped out, the elevator started to rise with the doors open. As the elevator rose, the doors started to close. Then the elevator came to a stop in between floors, with Stanley still inside.
“It stayed right there for a little bit, and then I kept clicking the [6th floor] button, and it finally opened,” Stanley said.
When asked, all three students interviewed agreed that elevator maintenance is an issue on the Georgia State campus.
“[Elevators] take too long, and then they’re always [broken],” Stanley said about Piedmont Central. “I don’t even remember when they all worked [at the same time].”
During a brief survey of Georgia State’s dorm elevators, most of them are up to date with their inspections. University Commons, Piedmont North, Piedmont Central and Patton are due for inspection this August.
As reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “elevators and escalators shall be thoroughly inspected at intervals not exceeding one year.”
According to Abdul Momen, director of Maintenance and Operations, “Once a year, the inspector inspects [the elevators] and [provides] a permit.” “The private developer Corvias group manages Piedmont Central, Commons and freshman hall; [the] remaining student housing dorms are managed by [the Georgia State] Housing group,” he said.
When asked if all dorm elevators are up to code, Momen replied “As per my knowledge, all elevators should be regularly inspected. Even [if] the permit expires, there is a grace period for the inspector to come back and inspect.”
Momen said that they are aware of several elevators malfunctioning, and that there are plans to remedy this.
“There are several very old elevators giving us lots of trouble,” he said. “I learned Housing [has] a project to replace a few soon.”He also confessed to knowing about students getting stuck in elevators, and that “The Piedmont dorm elevators reported frequently malfunction.”
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