A warning was issued to the public yesterday not to force open lift doors even if trapped, following an incident at Tai Po's Fu Shin Estate where a family of three fell two feet in a lift and were trapped for 10 minutes.
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said Monday's fall from the 33rd floor occurred when a sensor failed, probably due to a change in the weather.
Arthur Wong Kam-hay, the department's senior engineer, said the case was totally different from an incident at the same estate almost three weeks earlier - where an empty lift car plunged 14 floors.
'No mechanical parts were broken in Monday's case; it was just the fail-safe system being oversensitive - a normal cause [of lift failures],' Dr Wong said.
Dust and the normal expansion and shrinking of metal due to weather changes could trigger a sensor to stop the lift. The department said maintenance provider Thyssen-krupp Elevator Hong Kong had adjusted sensor systems in the other 34 elevators at Fu Shin Estate to reduce the chance of another incident.
The department would soon launch a publicity campaign to boost the public's awareness of lift safety, after completing inspection of the 500 lifts of the same model and age as the one that fell on October 25.