What sounds extremely wrong, but is actually correct?

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If you’re in an elevator and it stops - DON’T TRY TO GET OUT.

I honestly think it’s because of the movie industry, with heroes forcing the doors open or breaking out through the ceiling, but when people get stuck in a lift, their first reflex is to try to get out on their own.

NOTHING could be more dangerous.

Cabin elevators are designed so that the cabin is the safest place in the lift. Trying to leave an elevator without the help of a qualified professional places people in extreme danger (of falling, of getting stuck, of horrible situations that are too gruesome to describe but that I’m sure you can imagine…)

If your name isn’t John McClane, don’t do this.

The logic also extends to platform elevators (e.g. with only a platform, not a whole cabin, enclosed in a shaft that can be made of metal or glass).

One time, I was fielding an urgent request from a customer that was stuck in a platform lift. When I arrived on site, I discovered that the customer was out and about, but the lift was still stuck.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the customer had kicked his way out by bending one of the shaft panels out of shape, until he could slip through. The whole shaft, a total three floors of steel panels, could have come toppling down on his head.

Ironically, the platform, just like the cabin, wouldn’t have budged.

Stay put people.