Dozens of people were injured when an overloaded escalator slid backwards

This incident took place on March 5 at SM City Santa Rosa Shopping Center, Laguna Province, on Luzon Island in the southeastern Philippines. The escalator suddenly slipped backwards, causing a series of people standing on the escalator to fall and about 20 people were injured.

According to the initial cause of assessment, the functional force said that the elevator had a problem because the number of guests that day was too crowded, leading to an overload on the escalator.

Most of the injured people were those standing below who were crushed by people above, most of them were slightly injured and were given first aid at the scene by security guards. Among the injured were children.

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A witness at the scene said they heard screams of panic at the escalator area, some children cried out in fear, causing their parents to rush to pick them up.

A representative for the mall said the faulty parts of the escalator had been replaced and an investigation was underway.

In fact, escalators are a popular means of transportation in public buildings, especially commercial centers. This is also the place where many human-related accidents such as getting stuck, grinding, falling, etc.

In this situation, the possibility of the escalator being overloaded could be the main cause of the escalator sliding backwards. Therefore, escalator users need to actively observe, if they realize that a lot of people are moving on the escalator, they should wait for the person above to leave the escalator before using or switching to other means such as stairs, elevators. Especially on holidays and public holidays (March 5 is Sunday, so the number of people going to commercial centers is higher than usual).

The emergency stop button is important but not everyone knows it

In the above accident situation, we can see that the role of emergency escalator stopping is extremely important. If someone recognizes and immediately presses the emergency stop button of the escalator, it will reduce the number of people falling, reducing the number of people falls on top of each other and causing injuries. However, in this situation, even though there are many people near the escalator area, it takes a relatively long time for the escalator to stop, most of the people standing on the escalator have fallen.

Learn more about recognizing and using the emergency stop button and other precautions when using an escalator at: Potential hazards and instructions for safe use of escalators

In addition, this is also a warning sign of the loss of escalator safety, when the safety system of the escalator is not guaranteed, signs of damaged equipment causing problems: overload warning system, system brake system...