Every day, millions of people use elevators and escalators to travel to work, shop or attend a sporting event or concert. Most people, however, give little thought to the safety of these machines. The Boston Globe recently completed a three-part series that examined the elevator and escalator industry's inattention to safety, and the frightening ramifications for the riding public.
One of the first things we requested was a copy of the state's database of elevator and escalator inspections. The database was created only two years earlier, replacing a card catalog system that had been in place since Mr. Otis invented the first elevator years ago. The card catalog system was a reporter's nightmare: a paper search that would have required perhaps hundreds of hours of work. The computerized records, however, allowed us to quickly, and conclusively, evaluate the state's ability to inspect the 30,000 elevators and escalators.
Perhaps unaware of the potential manipulation of its own data, the state graciously agreed to provide us with a copy in dBase format of its inspection file only several days after it was requested.
Using FoxPro, we determined that nearly 40 percent of the state's passenger elevators had not been inspected as required. Even more revealing was the fact that of the elevators inspected, one-third flunked the state's safety test. And of those flunking the safety test, only two percent were shut down until mandated repairs were made.
By using the "group by" command, we could also see there was a wide disparity in inspection rates from city to city. In Worcester, the state's second largest city, nearly 75 percent of the elevators and escalators had not been inspected as required. We created a chart of the inspection rate by community and imported it to MapInfo to produce a map. This ran on the second day of the series and allowed readers to pinpoint the inspection rate in their community.
The database also helped us identify inspectors who were not doing their job. The database provided the address and date of each inspection performed by inspectors. There was a wide disparity in the workloads. This information was helpful in identifying inspectors who would later be observed by Globe reporters. The Globe found numerous inspectors goofing off on the job, spending their work days at home or running errands. Others worked two jobs.
Seven inspectors and supervisors were suspended without pay after the Globe series was published. The two top officials in the elevator inspection office were demoted. And the state public safety official ultimately responsible for elevator inspections resigned from office two days before the series first appeared. The database also allowed us to say many inspectors appeared to be doing their job, judging by the number of inspections they completed.
The database of inspections was used as a continuing resource during research for the series. We could quickly check the status of particular buildings or accident sites. We even checked the status of elevators and escalators at the Globe. We found out two of the elevators had not been inspected. This information was reported in a sidebar to one of the many follow-up stories.
While the database was an important resource for reporters, it was only one of many tools used. Court records, accident investigations, and elevator industry records were almost entirely on paper, and resulted in numerous cuts to computer-softened hands.
David Armstrong can be reached at 617-929-2539, or send email armstr@news.glabe.com. Copies of the series is available from Investigative Reporters and Editors. Call 314-882-2042, and ask for morgue number 11001.