Person trapped in elevator after 3 of 4 elevator ropes dislodged from deflector sheave

Location: Vancouver, BC

Regulated industry sector: Elevating Devices - Elevator

Incident overview

It is very likely that the ropes coming out of their grooves was caused from a failed/damaged bearing in the deflector sheave, which caused three of the four ropes to dislodge from their grooves. The maintenance logs indicated that no maintenance had taken place a few months prior to the incident. It is possible that the missed mandatory maintenance visits prevented the maintenance mechanic from hearing audible noises coming from the deflector sheave prior to the failure.