I’ve always wondered what the odds of survival are if you’re in a lift and the cable breaks.
Assuming you’re on the 20th floor, and as you get into the lift, all the cables snap:
what are the chances of survival if you’re standing upright?
is there a way to position yourself to maximise the possibility of survival?
would this be just as bad as jumping off a 20 storey building?
Since this is a hypothetical situation, the lift has no brakes or the breaks don’t work.
Any thoughts?
This site has some tips on how to land to maximize your chances of surviving freefall, as well as lots of fascinating tales. I know of no meaningful statistical evaluation of “your chances of survival” other than what is related anecdotally here, though they’re pretty much all “outdoor” occurrances.
I’d say that falling in an elevator would be preferable to falling an equivalent distance from a building or cliff, in that there would be some friction (from the tracks) and air resistance (broad bottom and air contained in a shaft) acting to slow the elevator, that would be reduced or non-existent in the outdoor scenario. Also, the structure of the elevator would absorb some impact force, though the threat posed by the debris from the cieling coming down on you would offset that benefit. I also think elevator shafts generally have spring bumpers at the bottom. These are probably intended only to cushion slight impacts if the car is moved to the bottom of the shaft for maintenance, but every little bit helps.
Your chances are excellent. In fact, you probably won’t suffer any serious injury (though serious injuries do occur)
All passenger elevators in current use in the US and Europe (at least) have what is not-so-generically called “an Otis brake”. This is a brake that grasps the (sometimes notched) rails outside the elevator (The rails also keep the elevator from swaying or wobbling)
In the last one I saw in operation (a demonstrator, which may have been an older, simpler model) the lift cable wasn’t attached directly to the passenger cabin, but was actually attached to the brake assembly, so the weight of the cabin “held it open”. If the cable breaks, there’s no tension to hold the brake open, and it engages the rail, usually stopping the cabin before drops even a few feet.
Of course even a few feet of fall can cause you to fall, break a leg, etc, if you’re completely unprepared for it. Healthy people sometime break their legs by unexpectedly stepping off high curbs, and that scenario gives them more sensory cues to prepare themselves. A sudden cable break can be far more confusing from inside the closed cabin.
I am, of course, a blithering idiot.
Modern elevators are designed with brakes that stop the car in the shaft in the event one or more cables snap. (cite)
Unless something really catastrophic happened, it is extremely unlikely that you will experience free-fall in an elevator.
Wasn’t there a woman who did just this in the empire state building when it was struck by a B25 (I think)? IIRC she spent quite a bit of time in the hospital afterwards but did survive.
Not really; you predicted almost 100% what I was going to reply! 
KP has it just exactly right. Just a couple of additional comments:
The inventor of the modern elevator (and the aforementioned Otis Brake), Eli Otis, in order to prove their safety, arranged demonstrations where he would stand on top of the cab and cut the rope himself (at the time elevators did not yet use cables). The brake is very nearly foolproof.
However, fools are endlessly inventive. A few years ago, in the dorms at UW-Milwaukee, a bunch of students (apparently not the upper end of the spectrum) decided to see how many they could fit into the elevator cab. This overloaded the motor (the cables did not break) and the brake therefore did not engage. the cab fell several floors, and tehre wer the usual assortment of contusions and broken bones. Apparently their fellow idiots cushioned each others fall.
One last note: modern elevators have seven to ten cables supporting each cab. ANY ONE of these cables is capable of supporting the cab’s normal load; this is to guard against excessive wear on the cables. That’s also why elevators are inspected yearly.
Of course, all this applies to cable supported (traction) elevaotrs only. Low rise hydraulic elevators are very much different.
Here’s quite pertinent link (from “Elevator World” magazine!)detailing Empire State Building elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver’s plunge in 1945 (referenced by engineer_comp_geek). Contrary to many accounts, Oliver was injured by the crash, but apparently fell some time after the actual impact, due to damage that had weakened her elevator’s cables and disabled the relevant safety mechanisms.
In most cases, the counter weight weighs as much as the elevator, half-full. If there are just one or two people on there, and the cable breaks, and the brakes fail, the elevator would fall up.
There was a short-lived tv series based on the book Worst-Case Scenario. They gave you tips on how to survive all kinds of things like falling into water from a great height, surviving a car rolling over, and getting out of a car that is hanging over a cliff. They also showed an elevator/lift plummet. The cool thing about this show was that first they would tell you how to survive the predicament, then they would make a stunt-person do it! And they would film the stunt person going through it and break it down so you could replicate it yourself. Really great show. Wish it was still around. They actually put a stunt-man (actually I think it was a woman) in an elevator and dropped it a short distance. Basically, if I remember correctly (don’t go out and try this based on what I remember), they said to not lie down, as some have suggested before. Grab onto something, like the handrail, relax and get ready to absorb the shock with your legs. Put your back towards the wall so you won’t slam your head when the elevator stops. You might break a leg, but you will (probably) survive.