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Home › Articles › Toddler Safety › The Ups and Downs of Escalators

The Ups and Downs of Escalators

How to Avoid Injuries with Babies and Toddlers

By Lisa A. Goldstein

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When asked where kids tend to get entrapped, McGeehan says they didn't look into this too much. Children became entrapped in all areas: the top, bottom or elsewhere on the escalator as it was moving. "It seemed that many of them were in the side of the escalator," McGeehan says. "The child's hand, foot, shoelace, etc., would get caught between the moving escalator step and the stationary side wall."

Martina Fetten of Pittsburgh, Pa., knows all too well how scary escalators can be. When her son, Niclas, was about 3 1/2 years old, he was playing next to the escalator at a mall. He held onto the outer rail with both his hands and started going up with it.

"I didn't see it at first, just when he started screaming," Fetten says. "That's when he was already hanging up in the air wiggling his feet. There was a plastic square attached to the outside of the escalator that stopped him from going any further, but it was hard for Niclas to hold on since the rubber band kept moving. Luckily my husband was with us and was able to grab him." Since then, Niclas respects escalators, always waits for his parents to accompany him and never plays with them anymore.

Escalator Safety
How can you teach your children escalator safety before an incident occurs? There's the obvious: As the Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends, do not transport children by stroller on the escalator. The CPSC also suggests that parent find an alternative way – such as an elevator – to transport children from floor to floor. If the child must be transported on the escalator, parents should remove the child from the stroller and carry the child, making sure they still have one hand free to hold on to the escalator railing for balance. "We support these recommendations," McGeehan says.

Potential clothing hazards are listed by the CPSC as including shoelaces, drawstrings, scarves and mittens. Parents can make sure their children aren't wearing these items when on an escalator, or be cautious of them.


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