As if we already didn’t have enough to worry about, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has decided it’s necessary to warn people planning to rent vacation homes this summer. Apparently, many vacation homes have a deadly piece of kit just waiting to injure people and take lives. What is this nefarious object? The residential elevator.
Whether or not the CPSC’s warning is necessary is a matter of debate. In the meantime, vacation home owners should do themselves a big favor and think safety first. The last thing they need is a lawsuit from unhappy renters. In the litigation-happy society in which we live, liabilities are everywhere.
Why Homes Have Elevators
Residential elevators are common in multi-floor vacation homes, according to the architects at Park City, Utah’s Sparano + Mooney. They are installed for two reasons. First, homes being rented to the general public must abide by Americans with Disability Act (ADA) rules for equal access. Second, elevators are installed for convenience.
ADA issues aside, imagine renting a vacation home in Park City and having to lug all your bags, groceries, etc. up two or three flights of stairs. It is a lot of work that can make arrival day utterly exhausting. Departure day isn’t all that fun either.
Residential elevators take the edge off as they make arrival and departure a lot easier. And when there are ADA issues involved, elevators provide access to those whose mobility problems limit the use of stairs.
What Worries the CPSC
As for the CPSC and their recent warning, their concern seems to be the space between the exterior and interior doors of residential elevators. If you have never used a residential elevator before, this may be unfamiliar to you.
Elevator shafts are closed off from a room or hallway with a standard residential door. You open that door to access the elevator. However, there is a second door on the elevator itself. Generally, it is a sliding door. The elevator will not operate if both doors are not closed.
Sparano + Mooney says the issue with this arrangement lies in the possibility of a child being trapped between the two doors when somebody else activates the elevator from a different floor. The CPSC warning specifically mentions children closing the exterior door behind them without first opening the interior door.
According to the CPSC, twenty-two children died from residential elevator accidents in the nearly four decades ending in 2019. Another 4,600 were injured. Their warning is designed to make parents aware of the danger. It stands to reason that vacation home owners should be aware as well.
The Safety-First Mindset
Homeowners who rent their vacation homes are best served by having a safety-first mindset at all times. Although the real risk posed by of residential elevators is statistically low, the risk exists, nonetheless. So do a host of additional risks that property owners may or may not be aware of.
To make a vacation home as safe as possible, owners have to think along two lines. First, they have to consider the fact that careless people can do all sorts of unsafe things without even thinking about them. Owners can do everything humanly possible to protect their guests and still, a careless person will find a way to get into trouble.
Unfortunately, the second line of thinking has to do with liability. Property owners have to think of safety in terms of protecting themselves against litigation. They have to anticipate potential safety problems and work to prevent them. That is just part of the vacation home rental game.