Holding Property Owners Accountable for Escalator Injuries

Escalators are everywhere. You may use one at an airport, at a sports stadium, or at a shopping mall. We take them for granted and are grateful to avoid using the stairs. But like all machines, sometimes escalators break down. If people are on it when that happens, potentially serious injuries can result.

Satterley & Kelley, PLLC, attorneys represent people who are seriously hurt in escalator accidents. Escalator injuries send thousands of Americans to emergency rooms every year. If you or a loved one is in this situation, give us a call at (855) 385-9532.

What Is an Escalator? How Does It Work?

An escalator is a motorized, continuously moving staircase designed to transport passengers between floors. It’s a looped chain of linked metal steps driven by an electric motor and guided along a track. Steps remain level as they travel around the loop, ascending or descending at a fixed speed, while handrails move in tandem to help passengers keep their balance.

Key mechanical components include the following:

• The steps
• The drive motor
• The step chain (which connects and synchronizes the steps’ movement)
• The comb plate (the toothed metal panel at the top and bottom where you step on and off)
• The skirt panels running along the sides of the steps
• The braking system, which should engage automatically if there’s an unsafe condition, such as the steps moving too quickly or a loss of power

When these components work as intended, escalators save us time and effort. If they don’t, passengers may have no warning or time to react if the escalator suddenly stops or speeds up.

How Common Are Escalators?

Given how many escalators are used and how many people use them, the potential for harm is enormous.

The National Elevator Industry, Inc. (NEII) estimated that as of 2007, there were about 35,000 escalators in use across the country. Each handles, on average, 3,000 passengers per hour during peak use, carrying roughly 12,000 people per day. That comes to about 105 billion passenger trips per year just in the US.

How Common are Escalator-Related Injuries?

There are about 10,000 escalator-related injuries requiring emergency department treatment in the US annually, according to research published in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. That research focused on data covering 11 years’ worth of escalator injuries treated at a Swiss hospital. They found the following:

• There were 173 patients with 285 injuries
• 44% required hospital admission
• About half left within 24 hours, and the other half stayed longer
• Most accidents were caused by slipping or falling
• 92% suffered soft tissue injuries
• 27% had bone fractures, the most common were of the skull and neck
• 18% suffered head injuries
• 6% had bleeding in or around the brain

The patients were evenly divided between men and women. Half of the male patients were intoxicated, while only 7% of the women were.

What are the Most Common Causes of Escalator Malfunctions?

Escalators are complex machines, so many things can go wrong and cause injuries. Some of them are the following:

• A functioning brake should stop an escalator within milliseconds of an unsafe condition. If it fails to engage, the escalator can accelerate to dangerous speeds
• Drive belts could be absent or dislodged from their motors
• Deferred or missed maintenance, worn components like step chains, handrail drives, and lubrication systems may fail suddenly
• An escalator operating beyond its recommended service life may lack modern safety controls and be prone to sudden mechanical failures, especially if it’s heavily used
• Having too many people on the escalator can trigger an emergency stop, throwing passengers forward. This may happen if the escalator is unsupervised or not supervised sufficiently
• Design defects may create a risk that a person could be entrapped between parts of the escalator

This is just a partial list, and a malfunction may have multiple causes.

Who Is Responsible If an Escalator Injures You?

This can only be determined after a full investigation by an escalator expert. It should determine what caused the accident, which should indicate whose actions, or failures to act, contributed to the malfunction, accident, and injuries. 

Obtaining this evidence is a critical reason you should contact us as soon as possible after your injury. If the escalator is repaired without an investigation, evidence may be lost, making it difficult or impossible to prove your case.

Liability for escalator injuries could fall on multiple parties, including the following:

• The property owner for failing to maintain safe premises
• The maintenance and repair contractor, if their work was negligent
• The escalator manufacturer if a design or manufacturing defect caused the failure, or they failed to adequately warn of a known hazard

After we gather and organize the evidence and review the case with a qualified elevator expert, we give our clients their best options for obtaining compensation for their injuries and recommend how they should proceed. We’re here for our clients, and it’s up to them to determine what to do next.

Attorneys Experienced with Premises Liability Law

Satterley & Kelley, PLLC lawyers have the experience to take on insurance companies and win when escalator accidents leave innocent people injured.

Satterley & Kelley PLLC is known throughout Louisville and Kentucky for recovering millions of dollars for victims and their families in personal injury verdicts and settlements. Our lawyers will fight for you to obtain the compensation you deserve when your injuries are caused by another party’s negligence.

To schedule a free initial consultation at our Louisville office, call 502-589-5600 (toll-free at 855-385-9532) or complete our contact form.