Escalator Injuries Increase

Escalator injuries are increasing at an alarming rate. Our Georgia injury lawyers frequently review cases in which persons have been injured by malfunctioning or improperly designed escalators. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Sunday concerning this increase in injuries, especially among children.
Among the mechanisms of injuries reported to the state were the following:
A 17-year-old boy’s right hand was bleeding after it got stuck in an escalator at MARTA’s Lenox station in February. He had reached down to pick up a fare card that fell out of his pocket.
A 77-year-old man, who walks with a cane, suffered a laceration to the back of his head in April when he lost his balance on an escalator at the Dillard’s store at Perimeter Mall, fell backward and struck his head on the escalator step.
An Atlanta woman’s coat got stuck in an escalator in January at MARTA’s Dunwoody station, pulling her down to the ground and popping her shoulder out of place.
A child’s Crocs shoe became trapped between two escalator steps in May at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel. The child was able to get his foot out in time and only suffered a small bruise.
A woman, walking up an escalator at MARTA’s Five Points station in May, lost her footing and suffered a deep gash to the center of her knee.
A man was found by Atlanta airport staff sitting in a chair with blood all over him after he tripped in June.
Especially disturbing is the increase in injuries to children wearing soft Croc style shoes. Some safety experts contend that escalators are inherently dangerous and question the blame recently heaped on Crocs-type shoes, which several children were wearing in highly publicized accidents across the country, including at Atlanta’s airport.
One safety advocate, Scott Anderson, a Houston petroleum engineer petitioned the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1997 to require closing dangerous gaps along the sides of escalator . According to Anderson, if escalators were designed properly and met all the standards, it wouldn’t matter that children were wearing Crocs. In 1996, long before Crocs were on the market, his 4-year-old son lost three toes when his tennis shoe was sucked into an escalator.
Safety experts recommend that all escalator riders obey basic safety rules. These include:
Keep feet away from the sides of steps where entrapment can occur.
Learn the location of escalators’ emergency shut-off buttons in case you need to stop the machine in an emergency. They’re usually at each end of an escalator.
Do not bring strollers, walkers or carts onto escalators. Use elevators instead.
Make sure shoes are tied and that clothing doesn’t drag onto escalator stairs.
Always hold children’s hands and do not allow them to sit or play on escalators.
Face forward and keep a firm grip on the handrail. Report Injuries
Across the nation, the CPSC estimates, nearly 11,000 people were treated in hospitals last year for injuries involving escalators.The Journal Constitution reported that during the 1st eight months of this year there were at least seven incidents involving feet becoming entrapped in an escalators in Georgia. Reports show all but two involved children who were wearing Crocs or similar shoes.
In May, the CPSC warned of the risk of “popular soft-sided flexible clogs and slides” on escalators, saying they were involved in all but two of 77 foot entrapment incidents the agency was aware of since January 2006.