Safety inspections cannot anticipate, they help prevent, but failures will still occur.
There will be an investigation, and the first part of the investigation will ensure that the safety inspections were carried out correctly. If the safety inspections were by the letter of the law, and checked everything that was supposed to be checked then the safety inspection was done properly.
The reliability of an unmaintained system exponentially approaches zero with time.
Gary Larson: "...Ernie watched in horror as one more elephant..."
I once worked in what used to be the warehouse for a woolen mill. Most of the mechanicals were original.
The freight elevators had barriers installed inside to prevent over-loading/crowding.
Though it never happened to me - I'd usually climb the two or three flights - the very small (more than three was crowding iirc - hey, it installed for a warehouse, not offices) passenger elevator would get stuck, and the transportees would have to jump in unison to get it moving.
