Suzanne Hart, a Madison Avenue advertising executive, was killed late last year in a terrifying elevator accident that a new report says should have been prevented, confirming earlier criticisms of the elevator’s maintenance company. The New York City Department of Buildings said Transel Elevator Inc., which performed work minutes before Hart was killed, “failed to follow the most basic safety procedures, and their carelessness cost a woman her life.” According to the investigation, a mechanism that stops the elevator from moving if the doors are open “was apparently bypassed at the time of the fatal incident,” allowing the elevator to shoot upward as Hart was walking in, crushing her between the car and the wall. The company has had its license suspended, and potentially revoked, while a witness to the accident is already suing.
