Recently, a video has been circulating on social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), claiming to be scenes of a person’s arm being amputated while attempting to stop an elevator using his arm. This horrifying footage has caused quite a stir online, prompting an investigation into the truth behind these claims.

Social Media Claims

The video in question has been widely shared, with many people believing it depicts a tragic accident in which a man loses his arm trying to hold an elevator door open for a woman. The video is shared alongside the caption” Never use your hand or leg to hold or stop an elevator. You never can tell; the sensor might just be faulty.” This has led to increased sharing and spreading across various platforms.

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The 30-second video went viral among X users as well.

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Fact-Check

Our fact-checking process began with a search for news or reliable sources about the incident depicted in the video. Despite a thorough search, we found no credible news reports about this incident. The lack of coverage from trusted news sources suggests that the incident may not be genuine. Additionally, we could not locate the video on any reliable news websites, further casting doubt on the video's veracity.

Further investigation led us to the full version of the video, which is 38 seconds long. The last 8 seconds of the original video were purposely removed from the viral footage since it attributed the video to a website called thepowerofnice.com and also displayed the text ‘There’s a better way to be nice at the office’.

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We continued our investigation by focusing on the website mentioned at the end of the video and found the archive of the Power of Nice website (See archive here). The archive version of the website from 2006 revealed that two videos, “Hold the Door” and “Surprise Party,” were featured on the website then.

On “The Power of Nice” YouTube channel, the “Hold the Door” video has since been removed due to violations (see here), but the “Surprise Party” video has been available since 2006. This video also stages an office surprise party and displays the exact text: ‘There’s a better way to be nice at the office, ‘indicating both these videos were created for awareness purposes.

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Additionally, several observations suggest that the staged video is fabricated:

  • The surveillance camera footage does not indicate the year.
  • The elevator door cuts off the arm in less than one second, which is highly unlikely. The speed and force of the door should not be sufficient to sever an arm so quickly, and such a feature would pose a significant risk to users.
  • There is no blood on the floor where the arm exits the elevator, and even the amputated arms seem to fall off even before the arm reaches the top edge of the elevator.

We also found an article on TechARP.com indicating that the video was published in 2006 to promote the book "The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness" and that the video's ending has been removed. We also discovered a Chinese article from 2018 debunking the same claim, suggesting that the claim has been circulating for many years (Source).

Also, it’s important to note that the safety sensors of elevators mean that the lift doors generally won’t trap your hands or arms unless you put them out when the doors are almost entirely closed. However, it is advised never to block the lift doors open with any equipment or box or with your foot or arm. In some of the newer elevators, holding the doors open in such a way could cause the elevator to "time out" and shut down as a safety feature. A mechanic must reset the controller to restart the elevator in this situation. Use the Door Open button on the floor selector panel to hold doors open longer than the normal timing sequence allows. More on elevator safety here.

Summary

A video circulating on social media claiming to show a man being killed after attempting to stop an elevator with his arm is fabricated. No credible news reports about the incident were found, and the video was traced back to a 2006 promotional campaign for the website "The Power of Nice". The ending credits have been purposefully removed from the viral clip, and several visual observations suggest that the video has been staged for an awareness campaign.

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Title:Horrifying Elevator Accident Video: A Stages Awareness Video from 2006

Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo Team

Result: Misleading

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