Escalator Steps: Kids Safety

Child Safety Issue with Parents on the Escalators

Can you imagine yourself tumbling a few body lengths down an incline, covered with pointed jagged metal teeth and ridges? Then your head hits the ground, your skin is bruised, and your world is practically turned upside down. The worst thing is, when you finally stop, a huge weight many times heavier than your body lands on you. This is actually not some hiking or mountain climbing activity, but adults taking their baby strollers plus their babies down an escalator. Such things happen daily. Accidents in the escalator steps happen due to negligence.

Natural Reaction to an Escalator that has Abruptly Stopped

Have you ever been on a moving escalator steps that has stopped all of a sudden? Your knees must have bent to help you immediately stop yourself. You grab on the side rail, and lean back to prepare your body from the sudden forward momentum. Yes, it is not only terrifying, but it also needs you to respond with split second timing.

How to React to an Escalator that has Stopped if you have a Stroller?

If for example, your center of gravity is in front of your feet instead of focusing it  between your feet while you are standing up. Your knees will no longer be responsive as you are bending them back while balancing the stroller. Your hands, being busy  holding the stroller will not hold the side rail in the split second that it takes for you to realize you are falling. If the escalator suddenly stops, the heavy stroller will lurch forward and you will attempt to press down, leap forward and brace yourself (and the baby) from falling forward.

If you are not successful, you are going to keep clutching the stroller at the same time falling flat on your face. You are likely to bring the stroller backwards, slamming the child back into the escalator steps. If the baby is fortunate, the stroller will roll down the escalator steps in this way. But if  the child is unfortunate, the stroller will hit the steps backward and bounces forward, thus sending the child face first down the stairs.

This kind of accident is not uncommon. So, what can you do about i? Sadly, parents going down the escalators with strollers all over them, do happen. Going down backwards needs you to support the stroller upward yet enables you to push the front wheels into the crevice of the escalator step. It  would mean that the center of gravity is securely between the stroller and the fall. This is unlike the escalator diving adult who has the cog behind the stroller, quite possibly contributing to the sudden death of the baby.

Going down backwards also enables you to stand on two stairs, making your position wide and more steady in a linear direction. Even though it will take some balance and coordination to step backward on the escalator, this is actually the most effective way to increase the child safety while having a loaded stroller with you.

Things You Need to Know About Escalators

Escalators are often considered as one of the main machines in many buildings. When you go to most buildings such as shopping malls, airport and railway stations these are first thing that you would see. Its major job is to convey people up or down the building. This has ever since been very reliable and helpful in transporting people. Do you know how this is made? Well, this article tackles more about this amazing machine. Read through and find out more.

You are probably wondering how the escalator steps move up and down. Well, the secret is what has been hidden under the steps, ¬which is called the truss. This is a set of steel which acts as support. Inside this truss is an electric motor that basically controls the two gears found on either side at the top part of the escalator and two on the bottom part of the escalator. Connected to these gears are chain loops that when the motor has been switched on, the gears rotate. This causes the escalator steps to move up or down.

As you observe when you ride the escalator, the steps are flattened out on the top and bottom of the escalator. This is because every step contains four wheels which have been positioned on either side of the step. The two wheels that are moved closest to the topmost part of the step link the steps to the chains that have been looped around the gears of the escalator. The chains' horizontal point at the uppermost and base parts of the escalator is what causes the steps to even out. For stability purposes, the wheels that are moved closest to the base part of the step revolve along the rail inside the truss. Inside each step, grooves are installed. Its main purpose is to help with the alignment of the steps.

The electric motor's function is not only to move the chain loops of the escalators but this moves the escalator handrails as well. All escalators are installed with handrails which help in the safety and balance of the people riding onto it. These are mainly rubber loops that are linked to the two gears located at the top part of the escalator. The handrails are usually placed on the wall at the side of the steps so that the riders can comfortably hold on to it.

An escalator is not as fast as an elevator at moving people from one floor to another. However, this machine is better at carrying people up and down at a short distance. Moreover, an elevator only carries certain number of people but an escalator can carry more than an elevator can handle. While it is true that the elevator transports you faster but you still need to wait before you can get in. In addition, because an escalator has an adjustable speed, it has the ability to decrease and manage overcrowding. Aside from that, escalators can be turned off basically turning out to be a staircase thus saving energy.