Escalator Risk and Assessment of Safety Review

Abstract

Escalators are common mechanical vertical transportation systems that move an estimated 245 million people daily in the U.S. on the more than 33,000 escalators [1]. It has been estimated that about 10,000 escalator-related injuries per year result in an emergency department treatment in the U.S. [2]. A study of escalator injuries published in 2001 concluded that injuries were primarily the result of falls or entrapment at the bottom or top of an escalator or between a moving stair and escalator sidewall [3]. Regarding sidewall entrapment, the 2000 edition of the ASME A17.1, “Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators,” introduced periodic tests for both new and existing escalators to evaluate the potential for sidewall entrapment [4]. The development history of the step/skirt performance index is presented and current requirements in the ASME A17.1 and A17.2, “Guide for Inspection of Elevators, Escalators and Moving Walkways,” codes regarding the index are reviewed. Injury data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for escalator riders are analyzed from the timeframe of 1998 to 2017 to seek trends in escalator entrapments during the time period between the introduction of the index and the present.