Elevator death: Probe reveals RG Kar lift operators got no training on handling emergency situations

KOLKATA: Investigations into the RG Kar elevator death revealed that the lift operators at the hospital had received no training on how to handle emergency situations and they had been appointed just one month prior to the tragic incident on March 20.

Detectives from Kolkata Police uncovered this crucial information while interrogating the three lift operators arrested in connection with the fatal incident at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in which Arup Banerjee of Nager Bazar was crushed between a lift and a wall.

A senior police officer said on Thursday that the Public Works Department (PWD) had outsourced the maintenance of the lifts at RG Kar Hospital to one agency, while the responsibility for providing lift operators was contracted to a different agency.

The contract with the previous agency responsible for supplying lift operators expired last February. From mid-February onwards, the PWD awarded the contract to a new agency. Consequently, a new team of lift operators was recruited by this new agency.