The Rhodes State Office Tower elevator that fell several stories after a cable snapped, trapping a top state attorney, never should have been operating in the first place, Ohio’s top elevator inspector says.
Elevator 10 was out of service in May 2021 during its last state inspection. Before it could legally reopen, another inspection by the state Department of Commerce was required, said Charles “Chip” Updyke, Ohio’s chief elevator inspector.
That didn’t occur, reports obtained by The Dispatch under a public records request indicate.
“We were never informed the car was placed back in service,” said Updyke, who has been an inspector for about 25 years, the past seven as chief.
“We require re-inspection, and it’s on the customer to let us know when they’re ready to put that back in service. To the best of my knowledge that never happened.”
The most recent inspection, dated May 14, 2021, noted, “This unit was not in operating condition at the time of the inspection. This unit is required to be inspected once the unit is returned to operational status. The elevator device is subject to continued invoices (violations) from our office unless the elevator device is properly removed from service and properly sealed.”
Representatives of the state Department of Administrative Services, which manages state buildings provided an operating certificate for the elevator valid until March. It was granted in March 2021, before the May inspection.
Administrative Services spokeswoman Melissa Vince said it wasn’t her agency’s direct responsibility. Fujitec America, a subsidiary of a Japanese company which handles elevators, escalators, and moving walks, has the contract to oversee the elevators at the state office tower, Columbus’ tallest building at 629 feet.
“As the vendor for the elevators in the Rhodes Tower, Fujitec manages follow-up on inspection violations and coordinating reinspection with the Department of Commerce when needed prior to return to service. (Administrative Services) will be meeting with Fujitec this week to review the work they are performing in the Rhodes Tower.”
Fujitec, which installed elevators in Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark and neighboring Paul Brown Stadium, has several offices internationally, including an elevator service operation in Westerville.
Vince earlier said the last preventative maintenance check of Elevator 10 occurred in January and no problems were discovered.
After completing inspections on all 24 Rhodes Tower elevators following the Feb. 1 incident in which firefighters had to break through a wall to free the lawyer, state inspectors shut down another three because of deterioration that would affect their ride.
Four already were out of service and Elevator 10 remains closed until it can be repaired, meaning that a total of eight — one-third of the 40-story state office building’s elevators — aren’t working.
The public and state workers do not have to worry about the remainder, Updyke said.
“All the elevators operating are safe.”
The inspection report says that Elevator 10 never experienced freefall and did not exceed its normal rate of descent.
However, Brett Kravitz, the principal lawyer for the Ohio Attorney General’s environmental law section who was trapped in the elevator, said that after the only other passenger got off on the 18th floor he heard a cable snap and he was in virtual free fall.
He wound up at the 12th floor, and rescuers could not locate him for some time. The elevator serves only the middle floors of the Rhodes Tower, so there was no door on the that floor. Crews on an adjoining elevator and Columbus firefighters shouting for him eventually determined his location.
A city Division of Fire technical rescue team had to cut a hole in the wall to pull Kravitz from the elevator. He was shaken, but not injured.
The Ohio Department of Commerce inspects elevators and escalators throughout Ohio, except those in non-state buildings in Cleveland and Cincinnati, which have their own inspectors. The state agency has 55 inspectors and two current vacancies.
Their inspection of Elevator 10 found the elevator’s governor cable snapped. That cable allows the elevator counterweight’s governor to help monitor the speed of the counterweight that helps raise and lower an elevator, but “in no way” supports the weight of the elevator car, the inspection report states.
“It appears as though the counterweight governor cable became slack and came into
contact with multiple rail brackets inside the hoistway (elevator shaft), which ultimately led to it being severed,” the report said.
The cable break automatically caused the elevator’s standard brakes to engage, and inspectors reported they could find no indication the elevator had experienced a sudden drop.
“Observation of the elevator revealed that none of the mechanical and electrical safety features designed to detect an elevator car traveling above a normal rate of speed had been activated. These observations indicate that the elevator was traveling at its normal rate of speed when the electrical stop was initiated and was not in a freefall.
“Additionally, the lack of a freefall is supported through the observance that all six of the hoist ropes (each of which are individually rated to support the weight of the car at full capacity) were in good condition.”
On Wednesday, after the state commerce department report was issued, Kravitz said he stood by his original account. He pointed out that the elevator obviously descended six stories, since he wound up at the 12th floor after the cable snapped on the 18th.
He was not interviewed as part of the inspection process.
I talked with the Principal Assistant Attorney General who was in the elevator when the cable snapped. Thankfully he is unhurt, although it appears the elevator car may have fallen several floors. https://t.co/9NBZeWTR52
Attorney General Dave Yost has urged his employees who must use the elevators that serve the middle floors of Rhodes to work remotely if possible.
The state office building at 30 E. Broad St. across from the Statehouse has three banks of elevators: one for the lower floors of the 40-story building, another for the middle floors, and a third for the highest floors.
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