CPSC Recalls Approximately 1,700 Home Elevators

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1973 and charged with protecting the American public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772, or visit http://www.saferproducts.gov. Further recall information is available at http://www.cpsc.gov. (PRNewsfoto/U.S. Consumer Product Safety Co)

On September 29, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled approximately 1,700 home elevators produced by Ontario-based Cambridge Elevator and Custom Elevator, based in Pennsylvania, The News & Observer is among outlets to report. The recall comes more than a year after a 7-year-old boy died in July 2021 as a result of becoming trapped in the gap between an elevator car and shaft at a vacation rental on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and on the heels of Weston’s Law, named for the deceased child, which went into effect on October 1. The state law requires owners of rental homes with elevators with large gaps to cover the gap with a barrier. Custom Elevator, which manufactured the unit involved in the fatality, says it is cooperating with the CPSC on the recall, but “that the hazard lies when construction of the elevators is not performed up to accepted standards.”