Stuck in the west elevator in the Humanities Building, Roxana Diaz, 19, social work major, had to be freed by Los Angeles County Fire Department Sept. 2.

“I was trying not to be late to class when the elevator got stuck on the third floor,” Diaz said. “I waited about 25 minutes (before being released).”

When the same elevator stopped working in April, two students were freed by officers from the El Camino Police Department after being stuck for 10 minutes.

Elevator breakdowns seem to happen frequently. Rodrick McMillan, systems supervisor of facilities, said elevator malfunctions are common and usually occur about twice a month.

Michael Trevis, EC police chief, said, “I can tell you that anything that’s mechanical, you know, technology, your iPhone, your laptop, your car, anything. Sometimes those things just fail. It happens from time to time.”

Facilities frequently handles elevator breakdowns by contacting a certified company to help with the elevators.

“There are certain elevators that seem to not have very many problems and other elevators that are problematic,” McMillan said. “Campus-wide, we probably have the company coming out two (to) three times a week to look at certain problems. An elevator is a really complex piece of machinery.”

The newer elevators tend to break down the most. It takes a while to work out the bugs of the system, so the older elevators tend to be more reliable, McMillan said.

When elevators break down, evacuation chairs – chairs that help mobilize handicapped individuals up and down the stairs – are often used to help assure

handicap accessibility. Additionally, there are usually two elevators per building; however, some buildings on campus are not ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, compliant and only have one elevator.

“Social science only has one elevator, which is not ADA compliant ‘cause any building for handicap is supposed to have at least two means of getting in and out,” McMillan said.

It is imperative to stay calm during elevator breakdowns, both McMillan and Trevis said.

“Remain calm. Most of our elevators have a little emergency button that will connect to campus police here or use your phone and just remain calm,” Trevis said. “We are going to get there really quickly.”