Shopping and traveling with your 86 year old father is always an adventure, but when you throw in an elevator and an escalator things get even more interesting. After working for 35 years in with an elevator company in the midwest, there is not an elevator that he has not seen before. Some he has installed. Some he has repaired. After his years in construction, your father then went on to work with an elevator safety company to make sure that all of their installations would pass the yearly state inspections.
Commercial elevator installations play an important role in the lives of most Americans. From shopping malls to concert venues to sporting arenas, there are many times during the day when a number of Americans make use of elevators. And as the population continues to age, there is are a growing number of property owners who consider installing residential lifts. In two story homes, for instance, an elevator safety company can help you make sure that you can stay in your home longer, even when stair mobility becomes an issue.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the elevator industry and the many conveniences that are offered to both commercial and residential properties:
- U.S. elevators make a collective 18 billion passenger trips per year.
- Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. In fact, there are 20 times more elevators than escalators, but only one third more accidents.
- America currently has more than 700,000 elevators.
- Elevators carry the equivalent of the world’s population every nine days, according to United Technologies.
- 10,000 residential elevators are installed every year.
- There are an estimated 900,000 elevators in the U.S. Each individual elevator serves an average of 20,000 people a year.
Elevators are sometimes taken for granted, but there are a number of times when taking the stairs is simply not convenient or easy. Fortunately, although there are not only commercial options, but there are also an increasing number of options offered by a residential elevator installation company. Varying in size and capacity, passenger, freight, Limited Use Limited Application (LULA), home, and personnel are five primary types of elevators that are available.