Charles Teves
- A man falls into a gap on a non-operational escalator
- Man is rescued after one hour
- Engineer says that escalators that are not moving should be avoided
Escalators help people get from point A to point B without using much energy. The only thing people need to do is to step on a panel and just stand there while the machine does its work.
But these machines have caused casualties and multiple reports prove this. The most notorious escalator incident so far happened in a mall in China, where a mother sacrificed herself for her child as the malfunctioning machine took her life.
Many incidents have happened since then.
It is now known that escalators were not designed to be used as stairs, moving or not. Multiple countries like Japan are having a campaign that urges people to just stand still on an escalator.
When an Escalator IS NOT OPERATIONAL, DO NOT use it as stairs. Reason being the weight on the escalator will force it to roll down. When it rolls the speed can get higher & higher because it is uncontrolled. As a result, some steps may cave in. Please watch this video pic.twitter.com/NM113coRoG
— jay (@nurhafizahb_) June 15, 2019
Back in 2018, a man almost in Turkey almost died when an escalator swallowed him alive. The footage shows people going down on an escalator that was not moving. Then the victim, who was identified as Mehmet Ali Erik, was seen taking steps then suddenly the escalator panels gave way beneath him. He grabbed on to the handrail but lost his grip so he fell into the gap. Luckily for him, the escalator stopped.
It took rescuers an hour to get him out of there.
Twitter user @nurhafizahb_ retweeted the video and is advocating to not use escalators that are not moving. This has been proven to be dangerous.
“When an Escalator IS NOT OPERATIONAL, DO NOT use it as stairs. Reason being the weight on the escalator will force it to roll down. When it rolls the speed can get higher & higher because it is uncontrolled. As a result, some steps may cave in.”
Her post has over 50k retweets.
i've seen too many accidents happened in an escalator.
that . thing . is . a . killing . machine
— Iqbal Faiz Indra (@broisss) June 16, 2019
I think it depends on the design. If not functional and is known to be dangerous to use, the maintenance company would (maybe should) have known to put a sign to not use. I've been on the ones that you can use when unoperational. Usually cuz the other side is under maintenance
— Wan Ahmad Naqiyudin (@OneAkhmed) June 16, 2019
a petition for mall authorities and security to ensure that they do not ask people to walk down the escalators when only one is functional
— YASMIN RAINE (@c0ldyas) June 16, 2019
Isn't the main benefit of escalators is that it can be doubled up as stairs if the escalator breaks down? I mean accidents do happen but escalators are built so that it is convenient like that.
— Ariff Hmzh (@ariffhm) June 17, 2019
