Friday 26, May
Man dies in paternoster elevator accident in Schöneberg
Before 2002, it was estimated that in Germany one person per year died in a paternoster elevator.
If you’ve never stepped into a paternoster elevator, you might think twice now. Yesterday in a building at Kleiststrasse 23-26 in Schöneberg an elderly man was killed after he fell into the wheels of a paternoster elevator as it travelled between the ground floor and the first floor. The fire brigade were alerted at 12:51, but they were not able to do any more than determine the man’s death.
The first paternoster elevators were installed towards the end of the 19th century, but there are around 200 of the machines still running in Germany. Unlike modern elevators, the paternoster has no doors and it runs continuously at a speed of around 30 centimetres per second without stopping. This can make it particularly dangerous for the elderly, young children or those with disabilities. It can also pose a fire risk, since its continual operation connects the floors and can allow fire to spread more easily.
Before 2002, it was estimated that in Germany one person per year died in a paternoster elevator. Since then, many of these elevators have been uninstalled, but a general ban in 2015 was later overturned.
