CCTV News Client reported on February 27th that recently, two children were trapped in the elevator of a building in a residential area in Pingyang County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang. It was only after rescue personnel pried open the elevator door that the children were able to escape.

On the noon of January 10, 2019, two 8-year-old children stepped into the elevator of a residential area in Aojiang Town, Pingyang County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. When the elevator reached the 8th floor, the elevator door could not open properly, and then the elevator suddenly stopped operating. After nearly half an hour, the elevator door was pried open by rescue personnel with tools, and the two children were able to escape.

In March 2018, Ms. Chen and her family, who lived in Jingxiu Bay Garden, also encountered thrills while taking the elevator outside.

Ms. Chen, the owner of Wenzhou Jingxiu Bay Garden:

The elevator suddenly stopped and there was a loud noise inside, which made the whole family very scared. Ms. Chen's husband found the emergency button in the elevator with weak light. But this emergency button is invalid, and the phone above cannot be reached.

Ms. Chen and her family were finally able to escape through the 96333 emergency response center. The reporter's investigation found that the emergency phone in this elevator was always unanswered, and the emergency contact number was also empty.

Coincidentally, in July 2018, Mr. Jin's wife was trapped in the elevator of Qingteng Home in Tengqiao Town, Lucheng District, Wenzhou for an hour.

Mr. Jin, the owner of Qingteng Home in Tengqiao Town, Lucheng District:

Try pressing the alarm to see if anyone is coming. She (wife) pressed hard here that day, but it was useless.

The reporter found that in this elevator, there is no signal from the mobile phone and it is impossible to make a distress call. The community monitoring room is unmanned.

Difficulty in managing and maintaining elevator management vulnerabilities

According to the Wenzhou Elevator Safety Regulations, elevator maintenance units should implement a 24-hour duty system. And the situation where elevator duty calls were unanswered and the monitoring room was unattended just now is by no means an exception. If there is a problem and no one can be found, it is a human problem. And what is the problem with elevators always malfunctioning?

Li Min, Director of the Wenzhou Special Equipment Emergency Response Center Office:

In 2018, we received more than 18000 alarms, and if we were to truly deal with human difficulties, there were over 3500. Rescue personnel have saved approximately 7000 people.

At the Wenzhou Special Equipment Emergency Response Center, staff receive at least dozens of alarm calls every day.

Apart from seeking help for elevator malfunctions, there are also many other reasons that have led to elevator safety complaints. In Jindong Community, Lucheng District, some elevators have been repeatedly repaired and broken. And each maintenance has to be shut down for more than half a month, which brings a lot of inconvenience to the normal life of the owner. In the residential area of Yaoxi in Longwan, the power switch of the elevator in the community frequently malfunctions, causing the elevator to frequently stop suddenly, and the owners often feel frightened when entering and exiting.

Owners of Yaoxi Residential Area in Longwan District: Sometimes there is no electricity, no electricity, and after a short interval, there is electricity again, and after a short interval, there is no electricity again.

The reporter noticed that there are many factors that affect the safe operation of elevators, including quality issues of the elevator itself, daily usage issues, and more importantly, management and maintenance.

There are regulations for the management of IoT elevators, but they have not been implemented

The Wenzhou Elevator Safety Regulations, which came into effect last year, stipulate that manned elevators should have remote transmission and monitoring devices, that is, use Internet of Things technology to monitor and collect dynamic data on elevator operation in real time, thereby further improving elevator accident prevention capabilities and rescue efficiency. However, currently, the application of this technology and device in elevator management has not been well implemented.

According to the Three Year Action Plan for Intelligent Elevator Supervision in Wenzhou, by the end of 2018, Wenzhou intends to achieve 100% coverage of the IOT supervision system for vertical passenger elevators in all public places in the urban area, and more than 50% coverage of residential areas with property in the city, basically forming a big data IOT network centered on the elevator emergency response platform, with the elevator IOT monitoring system as the terminal and the Internet cloud service as the bridge. However, there is still a certain distance from this target plan.

Ye Sheng, Deputy Director of the Special Equipment Safety Supervision Department of Wenzhou Market Supervision Administration: The Internet of Things is currently in the pilot stage. From the pilot effect, it is all good. The particularly difficult issue is the funding.

Step by step installation of intelligent monitoring devices

During the journalist's interview, the "Implementation Plan for the Stepwise Installation of Wenzhou Elevator Intelligent Monitoring Device" (draft for soliciting opinions) was issued. The Plan clarifies that the elevator usage management unit is the responsible entity for elevator usage management, responsible for investing in the provision of qualified elevator intelligent monitoring devices and strengthening management and maintenance to ensure that the elevator intelligent monitoring devices can be used normally and data transmission is smooth. Governments at all levels should strengthen funding support, with a focus on providing necessary financial subsidies for the installation and maintenance of intelligent monitoring devices for "three no elevators" without property management, maintenance and repair funds, as well as for elevators in residential areas with insufficient special maintenance funds and elevators used in purely public welfare areas. It can be said that these measures are still very specific, but the key is to implement them and ensure the safety of elevator operation, which is not a small matter.