A 29-year-old New Jersey woman died in an escalator accident after she fell at the Oculus transit hub in the World Trade Center. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the woman tried to retrieve her sister’s hat after a security guard employed by privately-run Allied Universal, refused to help her get it from the edge of an escalator.
The victim lost her balance while reaching for the hat and plummeted 34 feet to the marble floor below. Officials said she had suffered a head injury so severe that it resembled a gunshot wound. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members of this woman who died tragically.
The Need for Safety Handrails
This incident and the severity of the injury suffered by the victim shows the need for better safety features on escalators, particularly those where there is the potential for passengers to lose their balance and suffer a deadly fall. A safety expert told the New York Daily News that the woman’s death might have been prevented had the Port Authority installed a $5,000 outrigger handrail along the side of the escalator for added protection. Some buildings do not install a boosted handrail, even at spots where users may experience a fatal fall.
The escalator at Oculus might be within code. But safety experts have been pressing the city for years to update the code so that the side guard would be required at least in dangerous areas where a fall may cause fatal injuries. Safety experts say escalators should be redesigned so they install the European standard height handrails, which is about 8 inches higher that the U.S. handrails.
Common Causes of Escalator Accidents
According to a study done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in March 2013, there are about 10,000 escalator accident injuries in the United States each year that require emergency department treatment. The same study also found that 62 percent of these injuries occurred in public transport facilities such as subway stations and 30 percent in shopping centers.
Some of the most common causes of escalator accidents include entrapment due to a body part or piece of clothing, shoes, etc. getting wedged in the gaps between the moving parts of an escalator, and falls on and over escalators. Injuries and fatalities are also caused by escalator defects such as broken or missing steps, missing teeth on the comb plates, etc. Further, if the gap between the skirting and the moving stairs on an escalator is too wide, then, clothing or even body parts can be caught inside the mechanism.
In some cases, when the brake of an escalator that has stalled or an escalator that has been turned off is faulty, damaged or not set correctly, its steps may start moving again and cause riders to slip and fall or trip and fall. Also, defectively designed escalator may have sidewalls that are not high enough to prevent riders from losing their balance and/or falling over.
Compensation for Victims and Families
If you have suffered injuries due to defective escalator design or due to a property owner or property manager’s negligence, you may be able to seek compensation for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families who lose their loved ones in escalator accidents may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking compensation as well.
Property owners, property managers and/or transit authorities etc. are responsible for the escalators and elevators on their premises and have a duty to ensure that the machines are safe for passengers to use. They must ensure that the escalators are in good working order and have the necessary inspections, maintenance and repairs performed routinely.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an escalator or elevator accident or if you have lost a loved one in an elevator accident, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our law firm recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft. In an interview by the Canadian television station Global News after a fatal escalator accident in Montreal, Mr. Kenneth A. Wilhelm stated that the installation of emergency stop buttons that are easily located and run the entire length of the stairs could go a long way in preventing escalator accident injuries and fatalities.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/security-guard-refuse-leading-fatal-oculus-plunge-article-1.2971732
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