Escalator safety – what’s new?
Slips, trips, and falls have always been a major part of the industry’s overall risk profile. So is the heightened concern about escalator safety warranted? asks Michael Woods, Principal Operations Specialist at RSSB.
Slips, trips, and falls at railway stations have always been a major part of the industry’s overall risk profile. So is the heightened concern about escalator safety warranted? asks Michael Woods, Principal Operations Specialist at RSSB.
Michael WoodsPrincipal Operations Specialist, RSSB
Over recent years work has been ongoing across the country’s rail network to reduce slips, trips, and falls, which have long been a major part of the industry’s overall risk profile. Industry has been improving the surfaces that people walk on, reducing the amount of contaminants such as rainwater and pigeon droppings, and managing the processes and timing of cleaning activities better.
At the same time, the increasing number of retail and hospitality outlets in stations could lead some to believe this good work is being undone. Stations now have many coffee shops, for instance, and people tend to rush about, often while looking at their mobile phones, which increases the risk of spills, then slips and falls.
Stairs and escalators are particular risk areas in stations, as any change of level exposes passengers to the risk of falling. But, of course, they are essential to facilitate how people can access rail services and their destinations outside stations.
Most accidents on escalators happen because of the interaction of users with the equipment and it is comparatively rare for injuries to occur because of an equipment malfunction.
Given this, should we be concerned that the number of escalators at stations nationwide recently increased by 81 (between Paddington and Woolwich) and the length of escalators in use has also increased?
Passenger flows over escalators are very large indeed. One in six rail journeys in Great Britain are now made on the Elizabeth line, which means that those journeys in the central area of the new line include, on average, four long escalators on each journey.
At first there were reports of people being overwhelmed by the scale and architectural merit of the new stations, so some were toppling over as they looked up. Thankfully, that soon wore off, only to be replaced with reports of people – probably unfamiliar with escalators – catching their feet in the brushes or ‘skirt deflectors’.
But are accidents actually going up or down? Looking at the Safety Management Intelligence System, we see that the numbers nationally fluctuate.
The figures show how many escalator accidents occurred per million passenger journeys in each year. They take account of the large drop in rail journeys due to Covid-19.
There were, sadly, two fatalities in 2018/19 and 2021/22, at London Waterloo and London Victoria, respectively. The proportion of severe accidents have remained relatively stable, and the non-severe ones show a certain amount of fluctuation but no measurable trend.
So, has any research been undertaken on escalator safety? T992 Safer escalators in public places was published in 2014. This short report reviewed the hazards of using escalators; existing guidance; people's behaviour; escalators when used as stairs; marking of escalator treads; and other significant and design issues.
The report concluded that it is not good practice to use escalators as fixed stairs for long periods, or for large numbers of people. Where lifts or alternative routes are provided, they are often inadequately signed or ignored by people who think they are slower. In addition, escalators are not ideal for people with heavy luggage or walking difficulties, so the use of alternative routes should be encouraged.
A much bigger study by the Health and Safety Executive and supported by RSSB – Research to Improve Customer Experience and Safety When Using Escalators (COF-ESC-01) – found that the priority risk to manage is from falls. Ninety-three per cent of severe incidents (those that involved a hospital visit), and 84% of less severe incidents (those that did not), were the result of a fall rather than when people were ascending an escalator. People over 65 years of age are more frequently reported in escalator incidents, but from the data alone the reason for this is unclear.
The overall conclusions from these research projects are that there are some things we should do and others we should not. We should sign-post lifts and keep areas at the top and bottom of escalators clear; have robust cleaning regimes so that litter does not build up; consider safety announcements and notices but avoid distracting people with them or lots of adverts, especially dynamic ones; and minimise the use of escalators as fixed staircases, using them only in an emergency.
We are advised not to bother with some things that you might imagine would help, such as fancy markings or colours, or reduced escalator speeds. There are no measurable benefits from a reduced escalator speed as it increases congestion and delays customers.
Finally, so that rail can continue and enhance its commitment to safety improvements, rail organisations are also reminded not to forget to report all incidents so that trends and causes can be monitored, analysed and understood.
