a 92-year-old fell at parliament station. the elevator was out
4 minute read
laura recoskie stands outside the broken elevator inside the parliament lrt station. ms. recoskie recently assisted a 92-year-old man who had fallen on the stairs at this station because two of the elevators were out of service. she says it's been frustrating getting information from oc transpo about alternative plans for the elderly and disabled when elevators are out of service.
julie oliver
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postmedia
laura recoskie was headed to the stairs that take transit users to the platform at parliament station on the afternoon of april 8 when an anxious-looking woman approached her.
the woman said her partner had fallen on the stairs. they didn’t have a cellphone and were looking for help.
on a landing on the stairway that led down to the westbound platform, recoskie found 92-year-old hillel kaslove. he was shaking. it was hard to tell if he was cold or in shock, recoskie said.
other passengers approached to help. recoskie used her scarf as a pillow for kaslove’s head, but was advised not to move him. oc transpo special constables arrived after a transit user activated the emergency button.
paramedics arrived about 35 minutes after receiving the call and assessed kaslove for injuries. he declined a trip to the hospital to be checked out and said he wanted to continue the journey home to the west end by transit. recoskie insisted she would accompany the couple in a taxi.
the situation raises urgent questions about accessibility, maintenance and duty of care, particularly for elderly and vulnerable passengers who rely on elevators, recoskie said.
the elevator that was out of service that day had experienced intermittent issues since march 1 and had been out of service since mid-march as it was awaiting a replacement part that was on order, according to oc transpo. repairs were to be completed once parts are received and installed.
a second elevator at the station was also out of service for about 30 minutes on april 16.
a transit rider with a walker waits at the oc transpo lrt parliament station in this file photo from early april.
tony caldwell
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postmedia
nellie scherrer, kaslove’s partner, said the couple used the train about twice a month. when they saw the elevator wasn’t working, she asked kaslove to hold tight to the railing and to descend slowly.
“it happened so fast,” she said. “i didn’t even know they had another elevator. they should have had a sign saying there’s another elevator. it’s not right for people who can’t use the stairs.”
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oc transpo was aware of the elevator outage at parliament station and the incident involving a customer on april 8, spokesperson katrina camposarcone-stubbs in a statement.
“we take customer safety seriously and are reviewing the circumstances of the incident, including staff response, to ensure appropriate support is provided and protocols are followed.”
all o-train stations are designed to be fully accessible, with multiple elevators and/or ramps that provide built-in redundancy, camposarcone-stubbs said. parliament station is equipped with six elevators: two connecting the street level to the concourse, and four connecting the concourse to the platforms.
however, when elevators are out of order, passengers with mobility issues often follow the most natural path — which may not be the most safe, recoskie argues.
once a passenger is on the mezzanine level, they have the option of proceeding through one of two sets of gates: one connecting to the eastbound platform and another that leads to the westbound platform, she said.
there’s a problem when the elevator that descends to the westbound platform is out of order and there’s no signage in the mezzanine lobby area to direct people with mobility challenges to functioning elevators on the east side, recoskie said.
“in order to get to the platform level using an elevator, a passenger would need to know to go through the eastbound payment gates and use functioning east elevator — which would require walking about 25 meters from the lobby,” she said. once down on the platform, the passenger would have to walk another 25 metres to the other end of the platform to access the single-car train.
“any rider who was travelling westbound would naturally gravitate to the west end of the station because, due to the single-car trains, that is where the train stops. this is the most efficient option with the least walking,” recoskie said.
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“what actually occurs is that all westbound passengers gravitate to the west gates, pay, and then realize the elevator is out of service. then, in frustration, they refuse to walk all the way back across the whole station — now being forced to walk at least an additional 100 metres — so they take the stairs. this was how it played out for hillel and nellie, except they didn’t even know there was another elevator.”
while a transit employee arrived at the scene, there was no effort to write up an incident report, recoskie said.
“if something goes wrong, you usually need to create a report, so it doesn’t happen again.”
oc transpo works to maintain at least one elevator in service at each station, camposarcone-stubbs said. the transit commission is reviewing wayfinding at parliament station to ensure customers are clearly directed to accessible routes, camposarcone-stubbs added.
“we recognize the importance of reliable elevator service, particularly for seniors and customers with disabilities and are working with our maintenance partners to restore full service as quickly as possible.”
in cases where full accessibility can’t be maintained, alternative measures such as shuttle service are deployed to support customers in completing their trips, she said. customers are informed of outages through onboard announcements, social media and real-time service alerts on octranspo.com. signage and barricades are also placed at affected elevators.
colin white, from barrhaven, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery, carefully made his way down the parliament lrt station’s flights of stairs since the elevators were both broken.
julie oliver
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postmedia
colin white, a retired city planner with nepean and the city of ottawa, was using a cane while recovering from hip surgery. on april 15, he navigated his way down to the platform using only the stairs.
“i’m not a big fan of the stairs,” he said, adding that he wished there was signage or oc transpo employees around to help.
“it’s not like new york city, where there are people to help you with that. we need something like that.”
colin white, from barrhaven, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery, carefully makes his way down the parliament lrt station stairs since the elevators were both broken.
julie oliver
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postmedia
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