Property Management: The consequences of Holding & Blocking Elevator Doors

Elevators in Condos can be tricky machines and like anything mechanical, they can get stuck, malfunction, and break. The bigger the condominium / strata, the more elevators they have. The more, the merrier right?

Well, not quite. Bigger buildings have a higher influx of human traffic, and therefore higher elevator use which can contribute to a faster elevator malfunction. No matter the brand, how modern or how many elevators there may be, no condo corporation is exempt from these dangers and property management must be ready to face this problems.

Wait times can get crazy. When an elevator goes down the normal thing for property management to do is to schedule the repair with the maintenance company.

Equally as important is for property management to let residents know that said maintenance appointment has been set and when it can be expected, this will help manage residents expectations and reassure that the issue is being taken care of.

Who is breaking the elevators?

Perhaps no one. Elevators are machines, and machines can break without anyone doing anything special to them. But, if someone holds or forces an elevator door to remain open, a few things happen that can affect the elevator’s normal functioning.

Hold the door, hold the door, hold door - Hodor

1. The motion sensor will stop working. Usually, residents can wave a hand in-between the door and the wall. When this is done, the sensor indicates to the elevator that there is something in front of it and it will re-open. However, when the buzzer is sounding after being held open and the elevator has begun to force close its doors, the sensor will no longer respond.

   
   

2. Increased wait times. Waiting for the elevators can in some cases be taxing, but while the door is being held, other people are waiting. They either must wait until the car being held finally resumes and reaches them, or another car (hopefully not being held as well) picks them up. Even if a single person holding the elevator door wont make a big difference,

   the combined wait time and stress to the elevators’

   system if every resident does this would be incredible.
   

3. Machine shut down. If the door is continued to be obstructed or it is forced back open, the car will stop. It assumes that there is something wrong and the car will shut down, requiring property management to make a service call to the elevator company to resolve the issue (which can come with additional costs to the whole community).

Now, we are not saying do not use the door open button to be polite and help friends, guests and neighbors when they are attempting to board. That is common courtesy and we appreciate and practice this ourselves. However, holding and forcing the door to remain open, can be unsafe/dangerous to people and can cause damage to the elevators. 

-Stratastic Inc.

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