Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • No-no-no-no-no, not again.

  • Come on, open up.

  • Open up!

  • What's this?

  • Noooo-o-o-o...

  • Not every elevator ride

  • ends up like that.

  • But when the steel doors close,

  • and seal you inside one square meter of space,

  • you might find yourself picturing the worst case scenario.

  • How can you survive a falling elevator,

  • if it comes to that?

  • Well here's your answer...

  • This is an average office building elevator.

  • It works a regular week of 10 hours a day

  • and makes 400,000 trips per year.

  • Pretty hard-working.

  • If you work in an office,

  • you're likely to take about eight elevator rides a day.

  • Getting stuck in an elevator is unpleasant.

  • It happens about once in every 5,000 rides.

  • Finding yourself in a free-falling elevator

  • is quite rare.

  • But if, by fluke, it happens to you,

  • what should you do?

  • Before we get to your survival strategy,

  • let me take you behind-the-scenes

  • of an elevator.

  • Let's see.

  • Modern elevators feature a variety of safety backups

  • like multiple safety cables.

  • Even if by some very unfortunate accident

  • the motor fails and absolutely all metal cables fall down,

  • the electromagnetic brakes will activate

  • and stop the elevator from plunging to the ground floor.

  • But let's imagine the worst possible case.

  • The elevator is falling.

  • There are no ropes, no brakes,

  • the car is moving fast towards the ground,

  • and you are stuck inside.

  • You have only a couple seconds to decide.

  • Should you...

  • A. Jump

  • B. Brace yourself

  • C. Lie flat on the floor

  • If you chose to jump,

  • you're probably dead.

  • Theoretically, if you jump at just the right moment

  • as the elevator is hitting the floor,

  • you slow down the speed of your fall,

  • and that gives you a soft landing.

  • But chances that you could make it work are slim.

  • Not only is pushing yourself off the floor

  • of a falling elevator hard,

  • you wouldn't slow down significantly

  • unless you're jumping very fast.

  • Maybe you chose to brace yourself?

  • Well, sorry,

  • you're most likely dead as well.

  • When the elevator hits the bottom of the shaft,

  • your body will seem much heavier,

  • depending on the length of your ride to the bottom.

  • That's because gravity makes the elevator accelerate during a fall.

  • And because you become so heavy at the time of your impact,

  • your legs won't be able to support your body.

  • Your best chance is to lie down

  • with the chubbiest side of you on the floor.

  • And make sure to protect your head.

  • That will distribute the force of the impact all over your body.

  • Plus, the bottom pad of the elevator shaft would help reduce the impact.

  • Survival is possible.

  • In 1945, when a bomber hit the Empire State Building,

  • one woman happened to be inside an elevator.

  • She plummeted 75 floors to the basement

  • and got out of there with only a few broken bones.

  • But if you feel anxious, just take the stairs.

  • And join us next time for another survival how-to...

No-no-no-no-no, not again.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it