Was MARTA Elevator Accident Due to Worn Equipment? ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Earlier this week, a child fell into an elevator shaft at a MARTA transit station when the door opened unexpectedly. Elevator doors rarely open when they're not supposed to, experts say, but when they do, it can point to worn equipment. Jeanne Bonner reports.

When a five-year-old boy pushed on an elevator door at the Kensington MARTA station Monday morning, it opened and the boy fell 12 to 15 feet onto the top of an elevator car.

He was taken to the hospital but not badly hurt. He was released later that day.

MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said the door did not open horizontally as if someone had pressed the call button.

"It opened inward. It went forward into the shaft."

And another MARTA official, Rich Krisak, assistant general manager for rail operations, says nothing like this has ever happened before.

"We don't have any experience with this happening. This is a unique occurrence for us."

Elevator doors have safety features on them. Walter Siebecker, an elevator expert in Cumming, says they are called gibs.

He says they sit below the doors to prevent them from opening into the shaft or hoist way.

Siebecker, who worked for a private company that inspected MARTA's elevators in the 1980s, said sometimes the gibs that hold the elevator doors in place can become worn.

Siebecker said he doesn't know anything about this specific incident, but added that public urination can sometimes corrode the fixtures.

But Krisak said neither of these issues have been a problem for MARTA.

"Unfortunately we do have people who urinate, as do most public systems, but I don't know that that affects the operation of the elevators."

The state Department of Labor inspects elevators twice a year. Officials there wouldn't talk about Monday's accident because they said their investigation is ongoing.

But Paul Welch, the agency's interim director of safety engineering, said MARTA is diligent about elevator maintenance and safety.


"MARTA is pretty good with taking care of it. If we write something upm they have an elevator company that's there around the clock. They normally take care of any problem that comes up."

MARTA officials say the elevators are inspected at least once a month, either by the system's own inspectors or a third party contractor.

State officials declined to say when a report on the accident will be ready.

For WABE News, I'm Jeanne Bonner.
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