Survive in a Plummeting Elevator
It is extremely rare for elevators to free-fall and even when they do, most people survive the ordeal. (If the lifts brake's were to fail, the lift would probably travel upwards, as most lifts use counterweights to raise the lift and brakes to control it, but again, this is extremely rare.) If you want to be prepared nonetheless, here is what to do.
Steps
- Lay your body flattened against the floor. This will help distribute the shock of impact throughout your body. Lay your head on one arm to decrease the likelihood of head injuries.
- Don't try to jump right when the elevator hits the bottom. This is a myth, you would need to be jumping up at the same time AND speed that the elevator was going down for this to work and human beings just can't jump upwards that fast. Also the chances of jumping right when the elevator makes impact is negligibly small, and the elevator is likely to collapse around you so that even if you did manage to jump upwards at a rate of between {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}, the roof coming down would cause potentially fatal head injuries anyway.
