Escalators are incredibly convenient methods of transportation, allowing people to move quickly and effortlessly from one place to another. While these machines are usually designed and manufactured to the highest safety standards, user error and manufacturing / design defects do still occur with alarming regularity, resulting in numerous injuries every year.
Studies show that between 1990 and 2002, there were a total of 26,000 escalator injuries in individuals 0-19 years old. This amounts to an average of 2,000 injuries per year. Most information that has been gathered on escalator injuries has been collected for individuals between the ages of 0 and 19, because escalator injuries affect mostly children and youth.
In order to keep your child safe when riding escalators, it is important to be familiar with common escalator injuries and how they can be prevented. Typical escalator injuries that affect children include:
- Lacerations to the feet: When children attempt to step onto an escalator without adult help or supervision, they frequently stand in the wrong place and are cut by the sharp teeth that make-up the edge of an escalator step.
- Stroller injuries: Sometimes, adults do not know how to properly handle a stroller on an escalator, especially if the stroller is larger than one escalator stair. In these instances, children can fall out of strollers and suffer cuts to their hands and face. As such, parents and guardians should always be careful when putting a stroller on an escalator.
- Hand lacerations: Inquisitive children will often want to reach down and touch different parts of an escalator, which can result in serious lacerations to the hands and arms. Children need to keep their hands and arms to themselves when riding an escalator to prevent injury.
Speak with a Minneapolis Child Injury Lawyer
If your child has been injured on an escalator and you suspect a mechanical or design defect, contact the Minneapolis child injury lawyers of Terry, Slane & Ruohonen, P.L.L.C. today at 612-362-0000 to discuss your legal rights.
