FRES: Second Harnwell elevator entrapment in five months is not a big concern

Two students were trapped inside a Harnwell elevator for approximately 45 minutes last week. 

A technician responded to the incident and arrived on scene 26 minutes after the elevator first requested help at 7:19 p.m., Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance of Facilities and Real Estate Services Faramarz Vakili said. 

Since May, Penn has had to rescue students from broken-down Harnwell elevators on two occasions: once in June and most recently on Nov. 5, Vakili said. In addition, Vakili said an elevator in Harrison experienced an "unfounded" entrapment on Aug. 6, where an elevator broke down with no one inside.

Despite these incidents, Vakili said the University should only be concerned with the situation if similar problems occurred three times a month. 

The two students trapped in the elevator last week were Wharton senior Melinda Wang and her friend Emily Sun, a senior at Columbia University who was visiting Wang. The two were having dinner in Harnwell’s rooftop lounge before entering the elevator. 

Sun said the elevator went down a number of floors, but after the doors closed on the 17th floor, it broke down. 

The elevator went down and then up before eventually stopping a little above the 19th floor, creating a gap of around five feet between the level of the elevator and the floor of the hallway, according to Wang and Sun.

In total, Sun said she and Wang waited around 45 minutes in the elevator. Once the technician arrived, Wang said the process was very fast. With help from two Penn police officers, the two jumped down from their higher position inside the elevator to the 19th floor, and then took another elevator to the ground floor.

The elevator had no technical issue, but debris appeared in the elevator sill, according to Vakili.

Vakili said the two students left "momentarily" after the technician arrived, but he could not provide an exact time when the two students left the elevator. 

“In this case for the four elevators to have two entrapments in five months is really not an issue at all," Vakili said. "I think that the Harnwell elevators are in great shape."

In response, Wang wondered how the school developed the threshold, and asked what the school would do to address the concern if the threshold were passed. 

“I just want to re-emphasize that in all opinions, Harnwell elevators are in excellent shape," Vakili said. "We have a very robust, preventive maintenance program, state inspections have identified zero defects, and a record of technical problems with these elevators [is] very, very, very good.” 

According to an email sent to Harnwell residents on Thursday afternoon, an elevator will be offline from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday for maintenance work.

In the email, Building Administrator Max E. Reyes-Rosario said the work involves "the removal of dust, dirt, or debris in the elevator tracks that may have accumulated overtime," in order to  "ensure that the elevators are running more smoothly and efficiently."