Although we know that the probability of an accident happening to us is very low, escalators can still make many people a little nervous.
The biggest reason that makes him nervous is the idea of falling into this machine in a possible accident and dying disastrously. Examples of this can be found on the Internet from time to time.
Let’s talk about another danger first, before the scenario of being pulled and swallowed by its gears.
Escalators were responsible for a very serious fire on the London Underground in 1987. It turned out that things like feathers, pieces of paper, and garbage leaking down from the gaps on their sides have accumulated over the years, creating a total of 8,800 kg of waste.
These were old-style escalators with wooden steps. The fire started because of someone who dropped a match while lighting his cigarette, and the growing fire spread to the layers of paint on the walls. The fire grew so fast that it was impossible to escape; 31 people were killed and 100 injured.
In 2015, the fatal incident in China became the agenda all over the world.
A woman who was using the escalator with her child died as a result of the collapse of the panel, being pulled into the gears. The woman, meanwhile, managed to save her child by pushing him at the last moment.
It turned out that there were no warnings on the escalators, and no one had told her not to use them. Before this incident, it was revealed that the two workers shared almost the same fate in the same place.
Under each end of the escalator is a huge set of gears.
These have a pulling force that can even pull a car into it. If it inhales, it will crush your legs first, then crush your chest and heart, killing you instantly. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience these after you pass out from shock. Fortunately, it’s something that happens in just a few seconds.
If you’re unlucky, the gears and motors will jam and you’ll just be crushed to the hips, so your upper body remains relatively still active. You will die from blood loss, but your death will be longer. It is a form of death that no one would want because your nervous system would still be active.
According to media reports, such accidents happen a lot in China.
- Image: A tragicomic protest by critics of the unsafe escalators in China.
Another danger in escalators is the possibility of going backwards suddenly. In an incident that also took place in China, an escalator suddenly started going backwards very quickly, knocking down waves of people above it. A child was crushed to death by falling people; 30 people were injured.
It turned out that there were three terrible accidents in one week in China. Some lost their legs, some lost their arms. In one year, there were 49 accidents and 37 people died. Because of these traumatic events, some Chinese people are very afraid of escalators, and interesting images emerge.
In fact, accidents do not happen only in China. In just one year in the US, there are 10,000 injuries on escalators. Skull, hip, rib fractures, broken teeth and bruised faces are the leading types of injuries.
In this accident in Rome, things went wrong when at least 100 people got on the escalators at once.
The reason for this intensity was an important football match, there was a crowd of fans. Dozens of people were injured when the escalator suddenly began to descend very quickly, fortunately no one died.
So, is there any chance you’re stuck with the part where you step from the step to the floor?
In fact, the steps are made serrated. Thus, both shoes do not slip and slippery substances such as water do not accumulate on the steps. It also prevents wastes such as garbage and paper from escaping inside. If it were flat, objects such as paper would stick to the step and the inside of the escalator would easily fill up, damaging the gears.
However, there is a possibility that you will be stuck on the escalator.
In 2015, a woman in Canada lost her scarf on an escalator while getting off the subway. She caught her hair this time as she bent down to remove it. She choked to death when she couldn’t get the scarf off her neck. Nobody was there at the time of the drowning, which lasted for 5 minutes.
There have been many instances of suffocation due to clothing entrapment. According to a man who witnessed one of these events; a man whose suit got caught in the escalator, then his face was also caught, and the man’s head was split open.
So take care of your scarf, your hair, your shoelaces!
It should not be forgotten that everything has a danger. If we had to act on the basis of the accidents, we could not get into the car or the elevator. Remember that all these accidents happen very rarely, so no one needs to get paranoid.
Of course, it is very important that manufacturers produce much better machines in every field and regular maintenance is done. Because such accidents happen because of negligence rather than carelessness.
Sources: 1, 2
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