Elevator from 1 The Lower Swatara Fire Department filed a report stating that Swanson entered the penthouse with them and operated the breakers until the door opened. Alesky said he appreciated any help his department received in the emergency situation, but expressed concern for Swanson. Students without proper rescue training should not be put into dangerous situations, Alesky said. Because of the electrical components and high voltage in the penthouse area, Alesky and Maintenance personnel said Swanson placed himself in danger when he entered the area. Missi St. Cyr, a graduate student at PSH, and several other students left the Lion's Den just minutes after their classmates boarded the elevator. They realized their instructor and classmates were trapped when they could still hear voices inside the elevator five minutes after the passengers boarded, and notified Lion's Den personnel who called Police Services. "I was trying to finish my dinner; that's what saved me," said St. Cyr. "Anyone want to take the elevator up?" asked Ammon as he exited the elevator at 7:30 p.m. "We'll walk!" he stated, and his class followed him up the stairs. General Elevator Company inspects the elevator every month and is responsible for maintaining it. A representative of the company responded to an inspection call by PSH Maintenance on March 28 and said he did not know why the elevator malfunctioned. He said that possibly one of the occupants pressed the stop button by accident. The General Elevator Company representative said the emergency key box did contain a key when the company inspected the elevator. He reported vandalism as the cause for the missing Groundbreaking Ceremony Richard Chiavetta Capital Times Staff A groundbreaking ceremony marked a new addition to the Mechanical Engineering Technology laboratory on March 19. key and said the company could not have known the key was missing. Regulations require only one emergency key on the main floor of the building, and there is no need for one on every floor because the elevator automatically descends to the first floor if the detector senses smoke in the case of a fire, he stated. Mike Ray, work management coordinator of Maintenance, said they updated many components of the elevator within the past six months. Maintenance oversaw the installation of new break shoes and new cables, the rewinding of the motor, and several drop tests. Ray said the updating did not include the switch gear and electrical components located in the penthouse area. "It's (elevator) a piece of equipment like a car...and does get a lot of human use--probably more than it should," Ray said. He did not know what caused the malfunction on March 27, but wants everyone to be aware of the campus telephone in the elevator. In the case of an emergency, trapped passengers can call Campus Police at (6232). The number is listed on the inside of the telephone compartment. Hal Brandt, Chief Elevator Inspector of the Department of Labor and Industry said maintaining the emergency keys is difficult because of frequent vandalism. In the case of the Olmsted emergency box--since the glass was not broken prior to the incident--a vandal would have unscrewed the bolts that hold the glass encasing in place, remove the key and then replace the glass case. "Probably some type of electrical malfunction" caused the incident, Brandt said. "We think the proper way to handle a situation like this is to call the elevator company and maintenance." The department's office records show that PSH's insurance company, Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, inspects the elevator every quarter. They inspected the elevator in Senator John Shumaker, a member of the Senate Education Committee and Penn State Harrisburg Board of Directors, and Dr. Ruth Leventhal, Provost and Dean attended to celebrate the occasion. Leventhal welcomed students, CAMPUS September of 1989 and again on January 25, 1990 and found no violations either time. Brandt said the inspection procedure includes checking the existence and proper location of the emergency keys. "No one should have access to the key except elevator inspectors and elevator maintenance or other authorized personnel," Brandt said. This includes emergency situations, he said, because only certain people know how to use the key properly. "Next time I have a big test that I haven't studied for, I'm going to use the elevator," said Huan Nguyen, a humanities student present during both incidents. In 1984 PSH converted the elevator to a passenger elevator, which was originally only used for freight. In January, of 1985 the Department of Labor and Industry inspected and Small from 1 "He did a lot of things that went above and beyond what he had to do for us," said Judy DeMooy, who has taken a number of classes with Small. An open letter, signed only "The Concerned Students," was circulated under the title, the Underground Capital Times--Vol. 1. It said, "We are somewhat dumbfounded and terribly upset at the whole affair.... A good number of those students are in those courses largely because of a particular professor teaching the course.... Now that has changed and with it the atmosphere of the class." The change in faculty with six weeks left in the semester has also presented some unusual situations for the students in Small's classes. "There are a lot of students that were confused by the departure of Dr. Small," DeMooy said. "He worked closely with a number of students." "Those students deserve to have their classes completed and the faculty has faculty, staff and local donors who made the addition possible. Clifford Jones, President of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, thanked the donors and spoke about the importance of PSH engineering graduates in the area. James Wagner, Associate Vice- President of Business Operations for April 4, 1990, CAPITAL TIMES Photo by: Richard Chiavetta Relieved Students exit elevator approved the conversion. Colin Rockwell, a PSH student patrol officer on duty March 27, said Police Services received the call and proceeded to call the rescue squad. Lower Swatara and Middletown fire departments responded to the call and a technical serviceman from Maintenance arrived shortly after the incident to decide if the elevator would then be safe to use. The elevator did not operate that evening again, but was in full operation the following day and functioned properly until Saturday--4 days later. Three Campus Policemen responded to the call on March 31 and called Dick Shaffer, campus electrician to inspect the electrical components after they reset the elevator circuit. PSH possesses three emergency keys to the elevator: one on first floor Olmsted, one in Police Services, and one in Maintenance. picked up the slack," Lesniak said. The classes Small taught, Physiology of Psychology, Psychology of Learning, and Action Research are now being taught by Thomas Bowers, Rosemary Robbins, and Michael Becker, respectively. The three teachers have picked up Small's work load in addition to their own. "I can understand the students' dilemma," Bower said, "and I will take into consideration their situation at the end of the term. For now we're trying to follow through with the course work as closely to Small's plan as possible." Some of the course work will be difficult to follow up with because Small did special projects and gave more individual attention to students. Small earned a 8.5., M.S., and PhD. in Psychology from Catholic University of America. He was appointed at Penn State Harrisburg in 1988. Lesniak said the replacement process to fill Small's vacancy by next fall has already begun. PSU also attended. The speakers said the lab addition was necessary to keep PSH MET students academically competitive.
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