40 elevators without a positive conclusion

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The elevators in the buildings of Yerevan are in very poor condition. For instance, the elevator in a building on Kievyan Street always makes noises," said one of the passers-by who participated in a survey conducted by "A1+".

Chief expert of the Department of Expert Examination of Information on Escalators, Elevators and Ropeways at the National Center of Technical Security of the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations Lusine Hovhannisyan assures that it is impossible to get rid of the noise heard in elevators of Soviet buildings and the elevators are mainly safe as they are under experts' supervision.

"During expert examinations, experts carefully look at the doors and the lights and the noise and pay more attention to safety," says Lusine Hovhannisyan.

Nevertheless, out of the 3,796 elevators registered in Yerevan on April 1, only 500 have undergone a compulsory technical examination and there are already negative conclusions for 40 elevators.

In the past five years, there have been 9 incidents due to hoists and 18 accidents.

As far as the malfunctioning of elevators is concerned, experts say that is typical for any mechanism.

On-duty elevator service officer in Kentron community, Tsaghik Sargsyan said they serve nearly 300 elevators and that there are 10-12 cases of malfunctioning on a daily basis.

Currently, the primary issue of concern is that there is no elevator service at night hours. If a person is stuck in an elevator at night, he either gets out by himself or his friends and neighbors help him get out before the rescuers arrive at the scene.

"It is better for a person to stay in the elevator for a couple of hours until the electrician arrives than acting independently. That is when incidents take place," says chief expert Lusine Hovhannisyan.