Elevators and escalators (teens, infant, toddler, parents)
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Parents and grandparents, please use elevators instead of escalators if you have children in strollers. So many people have a fear of elevators (mostly thanks to incorrect Hollywood movies) instead of escalators. I worked on both for about 6 months when I was nearly dragged under an escalator while performing routine maintenance. I quit that very day. Escalators are motorized meat grinders. At the top and bottom of escalators are warning signs. READ AND HEED THESE WARNINGS! Escalators are not a child's joy ride. Some parents let their children play on escalators so they can get a few minutes of peace as they shop. DON'T DO THIS! I once saw a kid who sat on the step as it rode down and didn't get up at the bottom. The machine began pulling his thighs into the comb teeth tearing into his flesh. When riding the escalator, ALWAYS keep at least one hand on the hand rail. Old man carrying presents once fell forward and part of his shoulder was pulled into the machine. In another incident, a group of people were riding the down escalator without holding onto the hand rail when an unattended child found the escalator's emergency stop button. Several riders fell forward onto the metal steps. Some required stitches and a few had broken bones. Loose clothing that drags the ground is also a hazard. It'll get caught in the escalator machinery. The most shocking thing we saw was a woman on the up escalator with a baby in the stroller behind her. She held onto the stroller with one hand. Her cell phone began ringing. She let go of the stroller to answer the phone. The guy ahead of me dove onto the escalator steps to catch the stroller before the infant could possibly hit it's fragile head onto the hard sharp metal steps. Escalators are safe IF YOU OBEY THE WARNING SIGNS!!
what makes me cringe is seeing kids in CROCS, those cheap plastic clogs on escalators. Many cases of them getting caught in escalators and griding up kids feet.
There is a video somewhere of somebody in a wheel chair trying to go up escalator. Can you believe that?
I have vertigo problems and have avoided escalators for about 30 years. But I sometimes watch teens trying to be so cute and do stunts on escalators during peak usage and I get so incensed. I think TV and movies have glorified FUN on escalators which makes folks not think about the dangers...then they want to sue when it was their fault they got hurt in the first place.
what makes me cringe is seeing kids in CROCS, those cheap plastic clogs on escalators. Many cases of them getting caught in escalators and griding up kids feet.
There is a video somewhere of somebody in a wheel chair trying to go up escalator. Can you believe that?
I have vertigo problems and have avoided escalators for about 30 years. But I sometimes watch teens trying to be so cute and do stunts on escalators during peak usage and I get so incensed. I think TV and movies have glorified FUN on escalators which makes folks not think about the dangers...then they want to sue when it was their fault they got hurt in the first place.
What made me bring up this topic was seeing kids literally playing on the store escalator by riding the handrails. Parents were probably doing back to school shopping since our school system starts this Friday. In my loudest former military voice I ordered them down. Scared the you know what out of them. Since I was wearing my work clothes, they probably thought I was an employee.
I worked in a school that had escalators (Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago). We had lots of teen girls with very long hair. One got her hair caught and was badly injured before they could get to the cut off key.
Why don't escalators have automatic shutoffs for when something gets caught in the mechanism?
I worked in a school that had escalators (Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago). We had lots of teen girls with very long hair. One got her hair caught and was badly injured before they could get to the cut off key.
Why don't escalators have automatic shutoffs for when something gets caught in the mechanism?
They do. However, that depends upon the year, make, model. Even those that come with pressure switches in the side panel need to have enough pressure to activate the switch. Make the switch too sensitive and it'll always shut down even if nothing is trapped. Hair is so fine that it's not enough to trip the switch. Same with some fabrics. The comb teeth is at the top and bottom of the escalator. This is where the steps slide out from or into. If comb teeth are broken, they're easy to replace. Report any broken comb teeth to building maintenance. Some escalator models have a pressure switch behind the comb teeth. If a shoe or body part gets pulled in, it puts pressure on the switch shutting it down. This doesn't prevent a shoe or body part from getting pulled in. It stops it from getting worse. Modern escalators include many safety devices, some required by law. Old escalators can get away from having the new safety devices because of the date they were made. Many buildings will not replace escalators because it cost a bug chunk of money, creates a big mess, and shuts down the escalator for a long period of time (by a business standpoint). It's best if the building gets a service contract for elevators and escalators. Not only will their equipment run with less breakdowns, it could potentially help shield the company from injury liability depending on the circumstances.
OMG that is scary. I actually have a bit of a phobia of escalators (stairs too but more so with escalators). Whenever I go on one I have this fear of tripping or falling on it or not being able to step off in time, I'm also super careful stepping on a down escalator as I'm afraid to miss the step and fall, and I never walk on one without holding onto the handrail. I have a 2 year old that actually LOVES escalators, and has gone on them while holding on to a grown-up's hand, but I've always been too terrified to go with him on one myself. People make fun of me for being scared, so I'm glad to hear a professional sort of validate that my fears aren't all that irrational.
I saw a toddler get her finger cut off by an escalater at the mall one time because the mom had her back turned away from her child at the top of the escalater. The child walked over to the top of the escalater and stuck her finger into where it went into the floor. Then this idiot mom didn't even pick her kid up or anything just started jumping around screaming that her baby didn't have a finger.
Another danger of escalators and children is the handrail itself. Some children like to see where the handrail goes back inside the machine. They then put their hand on the rubber handrail and before they know it, they'd hand has been pulled into the machine. Most newer models have a safety switch which activates when something other than the handrail goes in. If it works right, the kid will only get a scare. If it doesn't work or doesn't have this switch, it's a traumatic trip to the ER.
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