All elevators and escalators in public places and residential buildings will be examined and maintained before September 30 to rule out fatal accidents, Suzhou quality supervision officials said recently.

Several tragic accidents caused by elevators and escalators happened last week and scared the public. A woman died on July 26 after she fell through a loose floor plate of an escalator in a shopping center in Hubei Province and was swallowed by the machine. Four days later, a college student in Hangzhou was crushed to death by a malfunctioning elevator and on Saturday, a Shanghai worker got trapped by an escalator and had one leg amputated.

Suzhou has more than 90,000 elevators and escalators. The citywide examination will begin this week to prevent similar accidents.

Authorities will also check the elevators and escalators for their design problems. If problems are detected, the manufacturers will be notified to eliminate the problems immediately.