Chicago Escalator Accident Injury Lawyer

Escalators are handy devices to travel from one floor to the next when carrying bags, making them perfect for large retail stores and airports. There are over 30,000 escalators in the U.S., each handling an average of 3,000 people per hour.

Although escalators can reduce the strain of climbing stairs, they require powerful machinery with many moving parts that can be dangerous to their riders.

Were you injured in an elevator accident? Did you lose a loved one through a wrongful death caused by a lack of maintenance on an elevator or escalator?

The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC can ensure you receive financial compensation for your serious injuries. Let us protect your rights today. Contact us online or call us at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) to schedule a free consultation.

Chicago Escalator Accident Lawyer

Escalators Particularly Dangerous for Children

A moving walkway is intriguing to children and looks more like a carnival ride than a convenient device in an imaginative young mind. However, small hands, feet, and fingers are easily trapped and crushed in these devices’ moving parts, making them especially dangerous for children.

In 2006, Ohio State University published a study on escalator accidents involving children. They used thirty years’ worth of data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate the prevalence of escalator accidents in children from 0-19 years of age.

From 1990-2002 there were approximately 26,000 accidents involving these young children on elevating equipment and moving walkways.

Their research found that:

Children five years or younger accounted for 13,000 who were harmed
Falling was the most prevalent cause of injury
Entrapment accounted for 29.3% of all bodily harmed victims, 36.5% in children under five
Legs were the body part most often injured, except in children under five, who had their hand injured 40% of the time
833 injuries were amputations or avulsions, 71.4% of these children under five

The findings of the study revealed that the number of children under five who were injured was disproportionate. The study showed that better escalator design could prevent many of these injuries.

Reducing the gaps between the steps and sidewalls or adding guards could reduce the bodily harm that young children experience, especially entrapment hand injuries.

Chicago Escalator Accident Attorney

Elderly Escalator Injuries

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), an estimated 40,000 elderly people over seven years had an injury while riding an escalator in the United States. Falling was by far the most common cause of trauma for older persons hurt on moving walkways.

Some factors that may contribute to elevator and escalator injuries are:

Balance issues
Limited mobility
Vertigo
A lack of escalator and elevator safety measures

Elderly persons that use walking devices such as walkers or canes should avoid moving walkways altogether and use an elevator when available. As attorneys representing people in these lawsuits, our responsibility is to anticipate some of these defenses from the onset of the case to preemptively address these issues, which may lessen the case’s value with an addition of comparative fault.

An Illinois Escalator Injury Attorney Can Help

The Chicago, IL personal injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC regularly prosecute Chicago escalator and elevator accident cases involving injuries sustained in escalator and elevator accidents. We represent escalator accident victims injured in shopping malls, office buildings, high rises, and nursing homes.

Victims injured in office buildings and shopping malls have a legal right to seek financial compensation to restore their lives. Our Chicago personal injury lawyers represent victims injured on elevators and escalators. Contact us today at (888) 424-5757.

Were you injured in an elevator or on an escalator? Let our law office investigate and litigate your escalator accident case without any out-of-pocket expense on your part. Our accident attorneys are paid for our legal services in escalator and elevator accident cases only when we have secured your monetary recovery on your behalf.

During your free case evaluation, our Chicago lawyers will discuss how to hold the building owner financially accountable to pay compensation for your medical expenses, time away from work, property damage, pain-and-suffering caused by the accident.

Our Chicago elevator accident attorneys currently represent clients involved in premises liability injury cases throughout the United States, Illinois, and the Chicago area including Cook County, DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County, Will County, Aurora, Chicago, Elgin, Naperville, and Waukegan.

Chicago Escalator Accident Law Firm

Mechanical Malfunctions on Moving Walk-ways Resulting In Catastrophic Injuries

When an escalator malfunctions, it can easily cause serious injury accidents. Bodily harm may occur when an escalator suddenly speeds up, stops, or reverses direction.

Fifteen people were injured when an escalator came to an abrupt halt at a Washington Redskin game in September 2012
Six people were injured at a train station in New Jersey when the escalator changed direction in January 2013
Four people were injured at a Bellevue, WA Macy store when the escalator malfunctioned and pieces began falling off in December 2012

Poor maintenance could attribute to elevator and escalator malfunctions. Property managers are required to ensure that the escalator and elevator cars are operating correctly.

Any failure to ensure the maintenance crews follow elevator safety guidelines could lead to premises liability issues. Usually, the building owner will hire a maintenance company to fix any problems.

Common injuries associated with escalator accidents include traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, lacerations, cuts, and broken bones.

Escalator Accident Injuries FAQs

Our Chicago, IL personal injury and accident lawyers know you have many unanswered questions about filing and resolving a premises liability case after being hurt on an escalator elevator. An accident attorney has answered some of those questions below.

Call us at (888) 424-5757 to schedule a free consultation with our personal injury law firm today. We are here to help.

Has Anyone Died on an Escalator?

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), about thirty individuals die every year and 17,000 people are injured in escalators and elevator accidents in America. However, most of those injured and killed were maintenance workers and construction employees repairing or installing equipment.

Many wrongful deaths associated with escalator accidents occurred when the maintenance crew member got caught in or between moving parts or fell in an elevator shaft.

What Happens If You Fall into an Escalator?

Escalator accidents cause thousands of injuries every year in the United States. Some escalator accidents have resulted in the wrongful death of young children and the elderly.

Many escalator or elevator injury cases involve victims who are seriously injured. Many people lost their balance and fell over on the moving stairs. Others were injured by the weight of a closing elevator door.

Maybe, the accident happened due to rail entrapment, missing steps, broken steps, and climbing the stalled elevating equipment’s high steps.

Are Escalators More Dangerous Than Elevators?

The continuously moving parts of elevating equipment may be more dangerous than an elevator car when accidents result in severe trauma. Many people involved in an escalator accident suffered bodily harm because they were intoxicated, distracted, or frail.

For over the last hundred years, elevator manufacturers have installed safety features that make it nearly impossible to interfere with elevator car operations through human error, leading to an elevator accident.

Many elevator doors are equipped with safety measures that work even when the elevators are poorly maintained by a paid maintenance company.

Alternatively, poor maintenance can do little when the elevating equipment’s movement can accidentally catch loose clothing, placing passengers at significant risk for losing their balance, strangulation, or preventable death. Elevator and escalator accidents are more commonplace than imagined.

Is a Stopped Escalator Dangerous?

A stalled or stopped escalator’s steps can be extremely hazardous to passengers that must step higher or farther down when walking on the stationery steps. The uneven steps could cause a severe tripping hazard in an escalator accident, especially when the passenger walks down and loses balance.

Property owners retain maintenance crews to ensure elevators and escalators operate properly to avoid legal issues and property liability problems. Victims of an escalator or elevator accident can hire premises liability lawyers to work on their behalf and seek compensation to cover their damages.

How Is an Escalator Stopped in an Emergency?

The elevator is equipped with a safety sensing device to automatically stop the unit in an emergency. Clothing and shoes can be easily pulled into the grid of the elevating equipment.

When this occurs, the sensor should abruptly stop the unit to minimize injury. There is also an emergency red button usually located at the top and bottom side rails of the elevating equipment that when push abruptly stops the vehicle from moving.

However, there are also significant risk factors of an escalator accident when the elevating equipment runs at a normal speed that includes:

Passengers can be injured on the gap between the apron boards and the elevating steps where clothing, shoelaces, shoes, and pant legs can become caught while the vehicle is moving
The area where the handrail returns to the interior of the elevating unit can cause severe bodily harm to hands, especially a child’s small hands.
The area between the escalator's handrail and pedal marked in a yellow line could cause pain or injury to barefoot passengers

Many escalator and elevator accidents with serious injuries could be prevented had the maintenance company followed the established protocols and ensuring the equipment operated correctly. Escalator and elevator safety is crucial to prevent a horrific personal injury or preventable death.

Hiring a Chicago Elevator Accident Lawyer to Resolve Injury Lawsuits

Were you injured in an elevator or on an escalator? Are you facing extensive medical bills and have lost wages due to an escalator accident, and need money as soon as possible? Call us to discuss if you may be entitled to receive compensation for your injuries through a premises liability claim.

Depending on the circumstance, the property owner and even the manufacturer or installer of the escalating equipment may be liable for your damages. Every accident attorney at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC to determine what entities are legally responsible for your injury.

Contact us today at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) for a free consultation to discuss your injury case with an accident attorney. Let us gather evidence to build a successful premises liability claim to ensure you were paid for your serious injuries, pain, and suffering.

All discussions with our personal injury lawyers remain confidential through an attorney-client relationship. Our law office follows social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

Our Illinois law offices represent clients in various practice areas, including car accidents, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, premises liability, product liability, harmful drugs, truck accident injuries, elevator accident injury, and wrongful death.

Resources on escalator and elevator accidents, safety, and injury prevention:

Common Cases

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