ESCALATOR SAFETY

Passenger accidents on escalators are one of the highest sources of passenger injuries in the transport sector. This proposal is prepared in response to the invitation to provide a proposal for the first phase (Phase 1) of the Network Rail Escalator Safety Project. The overall aim of the project is to work across the transport industry to reduce the risk of injury to the travelling public on escalators. The focus of Phase 1 is on the discovery and analysis of escalator safety work package (WP).

The key findings can be summarized through the following high priority recommendations provided to the funder:

1.The implementation of some of the recommendations from other national safety standards, such as ASME A17.1-2022, regarding additional escalator safety features. These should include maintaining low coefficient of friction / the step/skirt performance index below the 0.25 threshold, application of standardised yellow step demarcation lines and combplates, installing skirt / step switches.

2.Adding safety enhancements to escalators with VVVF drives. These would facilitate a range of actions such as the reduction of acceleration / deceleration rate, dynamic braking and reduction of operational speeds.

3. Harmonisation of escalator accident reporting and maintaining unified accident databases. This would involve harmonised / standardised accident reporting forms between the different operators. Adopting unified formats would facilitate more efficient analysis of the data by using AI algorithms, and a better understanding of the progress and effectiveness of implemented escalator safety solutions.

4.The implementation of a public service messaging campaign to make people aware of the dangers of riding escalators could be implemented. This campaign could be similar to the existing “Level Crossing” campaign carried out by Network Rail.

5.Call to action the establishment of a regulatory body to regulate the Escalator and Lift industry in the UK.