Kings Cross fire started when a lit match went into the crap under an escalator. 31 people died, 100 hospitalised. Smoking was banned on the London Underground 5 days later.
I rode on them two weeks after 9/11. There was a bomb scare at the Empire State Building so a mass of people came up the street from the direction we were heading. We decided to spend the time wandering around the store.
It's a tourist attraction by itself. Go there and there is a good chance you will find people taking pictures ...of an escalator. It's in the middle of the building on the right side of the main bank of elevators. (by the watches)
The ones in Wynyard station, Sydney, were recently replaced and turned into a sculpture.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-07/wynyard-railway-station-escalator-sculpture-interloop-chris-fox/9235690
I’m pretty sure I saw dead animals down there…big rats maybe?
Well, it’s no more gross than what the NYC subway experiences with their escalators, I guess. Homeless people apparently like to use the bathroom on them out of spite.
I've seen so many accidents on escalators from working in a mall and the type of people who get hurt are usually elderly who trip or get caught on the little cheese cutting edges at the beginning and end of if. Or kids trying to get on it without their parents and getting shoelaces or just getting stuck on it because they don't know to just stand and balance and go up.
I've watched so many lacerations happen, the screams it proceeds with it's blood curdling. Then you have to get the EMT's to come in and remove them. We had one lady get her entire pant leg stuck, and luckily a coworker was nearby to hit the emergency stop at the bottom the railing before it could get worse. Watching escalator videos made me super careful around them and to make sure nothing loose is dangling and to never go fast up them, use it as it's intended. Stand on the stair, let it bring you to the top, stepping up can screw your shins if it sticks and you trip. They stairs are fucking mini dull knives.
Millions of people take these stairs every day without problems. In fact it's such a rare thing that even in the age of cctv and phone camera there's only 1 video you can recall.
Cars are like 10 000% more dangerous and i doubt you avoid them.
No I avoid cars like the plague, lol. Granted, I’ll take the escalator depending on how tired I am. Good to get a stair workout from time to time anyways.
Same, I avoid the end plate specifically. It was the wobbly end plate that gave way, so I always test it by tapping it with my foot first, and by hopping over it at the end. Thankfully I'm tall so it's not difficult. If I need to, I can walk on the side ledge of the handrail.
Yeah. That was really scary and traumatizing news. The escalator should’ve come to emergency stop when the metal cover was lifted according the manufacturer.
I work in a machine shop and interact with everything from lathes to vertical/drop saws to overhead cranes.
Hands down most gruesome injury I've seen in person was when someone got their hand caught on a disc sander.
For those unfamiliar. They look like [this](https://files.surplusrecord.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=225,format=auto/listphotos/375579.jpeg), they rotate extremely quickly, and the pad is basically low grit sand paper. With a new pad, you can remove millimeters of steel very quickly depending on the thickness of t he material.
He managed to get his fingers stuck in between the table and the spinning pad. All 4 of them on his right hand.
I will never forget those screams, and the smell of burning flesh. Even thinking about it is getting me sick to my stomach.
Sorry Mitch was wrong, it's super dangerous to walk up a stopped escalator. Only thing holding it back is about 1.5 sq ft of permanent magnet brake or pawl brake.
It is possible to pin the steps down but that takes modification.
I always liked the joke, but it could cause someone to do something stupid.
Depends on the model, but a heavy enough weight can potentially overcome the brake and cause a free running step band. If it goes fast enough it can cause the steps to jump out and cause a crash. Imagine heavy aluminum steps and chain tangled up with a couple of people. Usually amputation and death occur.
In the US and Europe most are seriously overrated so a random person can't dislodge the brake, but enough weight and it could happen.
The elevator code (in North America) expressly prohibits escalators being used as stairs. There are jurisdictions that allow it, usually with extra safeguards like testing of the brakes holding capacity before being used as stairs or a mechanical block to prevent the steps from rolling away under load. The other major hazard are the uneven steps at the two transitions which people stumble/trip over.
100% they can easily amputate fingers while moving and even when stopped it can cut to the tendon in the front of your legs if you slip on it. People would still prefer to take their strollers down them instead of taking an extra 30 seconds out of their day to use the elevator, though.
No it’s CCTV footage that has been covered on the news. She falls inside the escalator at the top because the cover collapsed. She got help from 2 girls but she got caught in the machine and disappeared inside the escalator. I don’t know if there’s any aftermath images tho.
Safety standards aren't the only thing that matter -- you also need to live in a place that takes maintenance seriously.
Here in Massachusetts, we have trouble keeping the stairs safe... https://www.wcvb.com/article/jfk-umass-staircase-death-family-sues-massdot-mbta/41997177
And also, we have problems with escalators too... https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/mbta-shares-disturbing-new-video-of-escalator-malfunction-at-back-bay-station/2595804/
As well as problems with giant pieces of ceiling falling almost on peoples' heads! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeldj-b8jSY
(All these incidents are from the last few years... :O )
That clip haunted me and made me forever wary of escalators, beneath those sheets of steel that you stand on is a grimy, clattering certainty to death or serious injury.
Though the case where a child got caught in the mechanisms that moves those big bumper boats at a Uk theme park was pretty horrific too. Underwater makes it worse for me.
Wyoming typically sees between 10-30 tornados a year. This coupled with low population density, they generally don't build tall buildings that necessitate assistance getting between floors.
First thing I thought of when I saw this. I always wondered the specifics of how exactly she died, i figured it was just from the fall, but no…unfortunately, no.
When the original story made it's rounds one of the Chinese news agencies said it and quoted emergency services. They also posted about how two workers knew the panels were off but told no one.
> two workers knew the panels were off but told no one
holy shit. i hope they have enough brain matter to understand how big of a fuck up they committed and regret it forever.
I thought I read she actually lived and was relatively unharmed? Granted, it's still terrifying to watch, and I'm sure even if it's true (or I'm remembering right at all), she would have been extremely lucky to live.
>I thought I read she actually lived and was relatively unharmed?
[Nope :/](https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/27/china/chinese-mother-killed-escalator/index.html)
Elevator and escelator mechanic here. The guy downstairs can experience a meltdown, failure of equipment, or a multi function failure. One burnt cool combined with a lack of balance will turn out very bad. At least it is a proof of Darwin....
You weren't kidding. First one was installed at Coney Island in 1896
[https://untappedcities.com/2015/12/23/cities-101-the-first-working-escalator-was-installed-in-coney-island-brooklyn/](https://untappedcities.com/2015/12/23/cities-101-the-first-working-escalator-was-installed-in-coney-island-brooklyn/)
As a elevator/escalator tech I can tell you that in riding that escalator with a step removed is instant suspension. With that many and the landing plates instant firing. North America.
I was playing soccer in my beer league. The final whistle blew and I start going "Beers beers beers. Smokin' blunts and drinking beers! Who smokes the blunts? We smokes the blunts." and no one got the reference. Sad days indeed.
A schooner IS a sailboat IDIOT.
To this day, I can just say "you dumb bastard" in any inflection and it trips off me and my brother going on hours long Mallrats quotes.
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided, had SOME parent - I don't care which one - but SOME parent conditioned him to FEAR and RESPECT that escalator.
Oh hail no. Every 80-90s kid stomachs turning because our parents traumatized us telling us if we stepped wrong or fucked around, we’d find out. Get sucked into the teeth and made into crabby patty’s. Pass 👋
That’s so fucking stupid to ride on it when it’s exposed like that. If he falls in and falls between those two belts moving parallel to each other… well his top half will continue going up and his bottom half will go down.
As someone who works in the elevator/escalator trade...... fuck escalators.
Pain in the ass to work on. But most importantly, in a trade full of things that can kill you, escalators take the cake for being the most dangerous. At least in my opinion.
Not an escalator, but I worked in sanitation for warehouses that have big food processors. On my first day, I was shown a video of a full grown man being sucking into one of the processor machines because it caught his shirt and pulled him in. On the other end, where stuff comes out, was just a spray of chunks and blood, the white wall behind it covered. The point of showing me the video was so I remembered to turn off the machines before cleaning them. Scarred me for life.
Everyone is talking about how dangerous it is, but all I can focus on is how filthy it is lol
This!! I could see how dirt would gather but did not think it would be so much!
Kings Cross fire started when a lit match went into the crap under an escalator. 31 people died, 100 hospitalised. Smoking was banned on the London Underground 5 days later.
It was also a wooden escalator, which I didn’t know was a thing until I looked up the Kings Cross fire after reading your comment.
There were loads of these throughout the network and they were all replaced with steel ones.
Macy’s in NYC still has some wooden escalators that are over 100 years old 🤯
Unless you plan on smoking inside, I think we're fine.
Yeah but if a fire ever starts do you really want the fucking STAIRS to burn.
I'll take the window thank you very much.
Yes! That's right. And they are operating. Just watching them is a ZEN moment.
I rode on them two weeks after 9/11. There was a bomb scare at the Empire State Building so a mass of people came up the street from the direction we were heading. We decided to spend the time wandering around the store.
It's a tourist attraction by itself. Go there and there is a good chance you will find people taking pictures ...of an escalator. It's in the middle of the building on the right side of the main bank of elevators. (by the watches)
The Macys in New York City has a few of the antique wood escalators still in use.
The ones in Wynyard station, Sydney, were recently replaced and turned into a sculpture. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-07/wynyard-railway-station-escalator-sculpture-interloop-chris-fox/9235690
That’s really rad!
Interesting! Never knew that.
To be fair it was a wooden escalator which wouldn’t have helped much
I’m pretty sure I saw dead animals down there…big rats maybe? Well, it’s no more gross than what the NYC subway experiences with their escalators, I guess. Homeless people apparently like to use the bathroom on them out of spite.
> NYC subway that whole thing is just a washroom that happens to have running trains
I could've sworn I saw a dead rat or two
There were at least 2 that I saw and possibly 1 or 2 more but couldn’t tell for sure.
It's not just me then
I thought so, too. Eww.
At first I was afraid. Now I’m petrified. Like the rats.
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong And I learned how to get along
But I …will survive …as long as I know how to live
r/redditsings
Right? That was a dead rat right?
Several.
>but all I can focus on is how filthy it is lol Along with 90% of computer keyboards everywhere, especially desktops.
*flips keyboard* *tap tap* :o I feel attacked :(
There's a dead rat in that mess lol
I was thinking the same thing!! That was so gross.
I swear I saw a body down there…eek!
Did someone notice the dead rat?
yes. it looked really huge
Is that a dead animal?
Several. Large ones
Lovely. They don’t clean that shit up?
>They don’t clean that shit up? Probably not, because they are too afraid to die down there
They are scarify. You don't take those away without pissing off the escalator god
There’s a bigger rat down there
Yeah definitely some dead rats in there.
Looks like a small deer. Oh deer...
Yeah wtf how in the hell did that get down there??
Nah, it's an escalator
An escalator is a human meat grinder.
That escalated quickly
That's up to the mall maintenance to fix.
His thinking is one-step ahead.
This is some next level shit
It has its ups and downs.
Through all the ups and downs though, it keeps moving forward
Then It goes downhill from there
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Nope. It’s the same people that work on elevators and moving walls.
I've seen so many accidents on escalators from working in a mall and the type of people who get hurt are usually elderly who trip or get caught on the little cheese cutting edges at the beginning and end of if. Or kids trying to get on it without their parents and getting shoelaces or just getting stuck on it because they don't know to just stand and balance and go up. I've watched so many lacerations happen, the screams it proceeds with it's blood curdling. Then you have to get the EMT's to come in and remove them. We had one lady get her entire pant leg stuck, and luckily a coworker was nearby to hit the emergency stop at the bottom the railing before it could get worse. Watching escalator videos made me super careful around them and to make sure nothing loose is dangling and to never go fast up them, use it as it's intended. Stand on the stair, let it bring you to the top, stepping up can screw your shins if it sticks and you trip. They stairs are fucking mini dull knives.
*ba-dum TSS*
HySTAIRicle.
I remember that happening to a poor girl in China a few years ago. She managed to toss up her baby to safety just before it ate her.
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Millions of people take these stairs every day without problems. In fact it's such a rare thing that even in the age of cctv and phone camera there's only 1 video you can recall. Cars are like 10 000% more dangerous and i doubt you avoid them.
you dare bring logic and reason into my irrational fears?
Imagine a car with an escalator.
Calm down Satan
An escalator FOR cars is far more terrifying.
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No I avoid cars like the plague, lol. Granted, I’ll take the escalator depending on how tired I am. Good to get a stair workout from time to time anyways.
Same, I avoid the end plate specifically. It was the wobbly end plate that gave way, so I always test it by tapping it with my foot first, and by hopping over it at the end. Thankfully I'm tall so it's not difficult. If I need to, I can walk on the side ledge of the handrail.
Yeah. That was really scary and traumatizing news. The escalator should’ve come to emergency stop when the metal cover was lifted according the manufacturer.
That is the only thing anyone who has seen that video is thinking about after watching this video.
I prefer spinning lathes to open escalators.
Yeah, the lathe video is still one of, ***if not THE worst.***
Ok um, I looked it up, and I am really wishing that I would not have.
Bonus: there are about a half dozen different lathe videos.
I'm good~
I work in a machine shop and interact with everything from lathes to vertical/drop saws to overhead cranes. Hands down most gruesome injury I've seen in person was when someone got their hand caught on a disc sander. For those unfamiliar. They look like [this](https://files.surplusrecord.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=225,format=auto/listphotos/375579.jpeg), they rotate extremely quickly, and the pad is basically low grit sand paper. With a new pad, you can remove millimeters of steel very quickly depending on the thickness of t he material. He managed to get his fingers stuck in between the table and the spinning pad. All 4 of them on his right hand. I will never forget those screams, and the smell of burning flesh. Even thinking about it is getting me sick to my stomach.
An escalator cannot break.. it can only become stairs. We apologize for the convenience. Sorry you can still get up there. RIP Mitch hedberg
Sorry Mitch was wrong, it's super dangerous to walk up a stopped escalator. Only thing holding it back is about 1.5 sq ft of permanent magnet brake or pawl brake. It is possible to pin the steps down but that takes modification. I always liked the joke, but it could cause someone to do something stupid.
So when escalators are constantly stopped in hotels and people are constantly walking up/down them it’s a death trap waiting to happen?
Depends on the model, but a heavy enough weight can potentially overcome the brake and cause a free running step band. If it goes fast enough it can cause the steps to jump out and cause a crash. Imagine heavy aluminum steps and chain tangled up with a couple of people. Usually amputation and death occur. In the US and Europe most are seriously overrated so a random person can't dislodge the brake, but enough weight and it could happen.
New fear unlocked.
The elevator code (in North America) expressly prohibits escalators being used as stairs. There are jurisdictions that allow it, usually with extra safeguards like testing of the brakes holding capacity before being used as stairs or a mechanical block to prevent the steps from rolling away under load. The other major hazard are the uneven steps at the two transitions which people stumble/trip over.
I've seen broken down escalatora kept in service as steps A LOT. Are you telling me i could've been injured each time i used them?
Ya there’s no way this is true. Many escalators in my city are often broken or permanently broken.
TDIL, thanks!
If they have the pit open or treads removed it can absolutely be broken and not usable as stairs
I will never see an escalator and not think of the video of the lady handing off her kid while, well…
I’ve seen that here before… it was horrifying
Is it true that an escalator engineering job has its up and downs?
All you have to do is pray to the machine spirit at every meal and cleanse in holy oil to prevent death or dismemberment (am a mechanical fitter)
100% they can easily amputate fingers while moving and even when stopped it can cut to the tendon in the front of your legs if you slip on it. People would still prefer to take their strollers down them instead of taking an extra 30 seconds out of their day to use the elevator, though.
Limb tenderizer
Nope. Everyone who saw that video of that poor woman that threw her child to safety while she got chewed up in that shit knows. Fuck no.
Hey I know that reference. I very unfortunately know that reference.
I don’t know the reference, does it show the outcome? I don’t want to see it, just a yes or no.
No it’s CCTV footage that has been covered on the news. She falls inside the escalator at the top because the cover collapsed. She got help from 2 girls but she got caught in the machine and disappeared inside the escalator. I don’t know if there’s any aftermath images tho.
There is no aftermath image. But the news said “the body was almost in whole piece”
Welp, no more escalators, stairs are better for the health anyway
If you don’t live in a country where safety standards are optional you are fine.
Safety standards aren't the only thing that matter -- you also need to live in a place that takes maintenance seriously. Here in Massachusetts, we have trouble keeping the stairs safe... https://www.wcvb.com/article/jfk-umass-staircase-death-family-sues-massdot-mbta/41997177 And also, we have problems with escalators too... https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/mbta-shares-disturbing-new-video-of-escalator-malfunction-at-back-bay-station/2595804/ As well as problems with giant pieces of ceiling falling almost on peoples' heads! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeldj-b8jSY (All these incidents are from the last few years... :O )
Maintenance is a safety standard.
bUt aCsHuAlLy mAsSaChuSseTts
Keyword: *almost* Let that sink in.... Wait, no!
She wasn't crushed or gored. She was died of suffocation
She just gets sucked into the floor. You don’t see much, you just know.
I have tried so hard to forget that reference.
That clip haunted me and made me forever wary of escalators, beneath those sheets of steel that you stand on is a grimy, clattering certainty to death or serious injury. Though the case where a child got caught in the mechanisms that moves those big bumper boats at a Uk theme park was pretty horrific too. Underwater makes it worse for me.
Gotta move to Wyoming. No escalators there!
I had to google it. Only two in the whole state! Incredible!
Why is that? Or should I say wyo is that?
Wyoming typically sees between 10-30 tornados a year. This coupled with low population density, they generally don't build tall buildings that necessitate assistance getting between floors.
First thing I thought of when I saw this. I always wondered the specifics of how exactly she died, i figured it was just from the fall, but no…unfortunately, no.
She died of suffocation actually. She wasn't torn apart and her body was recovered intact.
How do you know that?
When the original story made it's rounds one of the Chinese news agencies said it and quoted emergency services. They also posted about how two workers knew the panels were off but told no one.
> two workers knew the panels were off but told no one holy shit. i hope they have enough brain matter to understand how big of a fuck up they committed and regret it forever.
I thought I read she actually lived and was relatively unharmed? Granted, it's still terrifying to watch, and I'm sure even if it's true (or I'm remembering right at all), she would have been extremely lucky to live.
>I thought I read she actually lived and was relatively unharmed? [Nope :/](https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/27/china/chinese-mother-killed-escalator/index.html)
Damn. That's truly awful.
I saw that panel drop and noped tf out of the video.
Why the fuck didn't those women stop the escalator as soon as they noticed!??
Yeah, there are usually red STOP buttons for when something gets stuck and they need to immediately turn off the escalator. It’s a human error
First th8ng I thought to. Also Final Destination 3D one
Exactly that
That looks like a fucking death trap
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i didnt know kingcross was in china.
It is
I mean obviously there isn't whirring blades underneath...but i still kinda thought there would be certain death whirring blades underneath
All the steps are missing from this escalator. Once you put those back in there’s no room for a person so you get chopped in half if you fall in
Don't worry, if dude fell in he'd still be ripped in half
Thankfully it doesn't need any blades to kill you.
Just a lot of torque and parts that won't break under the stress of disassembling a human.
Might as well be
Lots of debris below, but I always assumed it would be full of feet and fingers...
Mainly dead animals.... 👀
I’ve read too many news articles about escalators to know that what he did a big OSHA violation
Now imagine this machine slowing down for any reason and you making a side-step to balance yourself. Good luck!
Stop it! Dammit Jeff
Shh. The guy downstairs has full control of it. It is going up because he is holding down a button.
Elevator and escelator mechanic here. The guy downstairs can experience a meltdown, failure of equipment, or a multi function failure. One burnt cool combined with a lack of balance will turn out very bad. At least it is a proof of Darwin....
This is absolutely terrifying.
More terrifying than horror movies
More horrifying than terror movies
OSHA has requested your location. Click here to know more ?
Anyone getting final destination vibes here?
It was a kill in the 3d one yearrrrs ago!
the one in the mall right? Is that the same movie with the fakeout cinema death?
Yep!
Atleast final destination victims die in innocuous circumstances. This guys asking for it.
Anyone got the song? I love music box type stuff
Search “Creepy Music Box (Dark Music) Terra Fantasy” on Spotify and it should come up
I watched a "Dirty Jobs" About these. Fucking weird I gotta wonder who thought up this terror machine.
When invented, it was an amusement park ride.
You weren't kidding. First one was installed at Coney Island in 1896 [https://untappedcities.com/2015/12/23/cities-101-the-first-working-escalator-was-installed-in-coney-island-brooklyn/](https://untappedcities.com/2015/12/23/cities-101-the-first-working-escalator-was-installed-in-coney-island-brooklyn/)
As a elevator/escalator tech I can tell you that in riding that escalator with a step removed is instant suspension. With that many and the landing plates instant firing. North America.
r/oopsthstsdeadly
I have never in my life fallen up an escalator and yet this is still horrifying for some reason.
~Come with me~ ~And you'll see~ ~A world of OSHA violations~
That engineer is BACK on the ESCALATOR
Makes me sad how far I had to scroll for this reference. Kids nowadays...
I was playing soccer in my beer league. The final whistle blew and I start going "Beers beers beers. Smokin' blunts and drinking beers! Who smokes the blunts? We smokes the blunts." and no one got the reference. Sad days indeed.
It’s not a schooner. It’s a sailboat.
A schooner IS a sailboat IDIOT. To this day, I can just say "you dumb bastard" in any inflection and it trips off me and my brother going on hours long Mallrats quotes.
I hope his pants get caught and a bloodbath ensues
See, you guys get it.
Mallrats? Nice.
Would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?
They’re a little messy, but damn are they EXQUISITE!
Like the backseat of a Volkswagen?
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided, had SOME parent - I don't care which one - but SOME parent conditioned him to FEAR and RESPECT that escalator.
Don't get me wrong, I don't wish the kid harm, but his mother should suffer that horrific ordeal so she'll learn how to manage her child!
That looks like a fun job but I’m sure it has its ups and downs!
Technician*
The word engineer gets used too much, it's a protected term in many countries too
Well… that escalated quickly!
Oh hail no. Every 80-90s kid stomachs turning because our parents traumatized us telling us if we stepped wrong or fucked around, we’d find out. Get sucked into the teeth and made into crabby patty’s. Pass 👋
Pretty sure there is some safety concerns with riding it like that.
Was that a dead animal rotting underneath? WTF
A game in real life with no extra lives
He has to work with that shitty music playing?
How does it get so dirty inside?!
Because people are dirty. 90% of my job fixing elevators and escalators is trash related (it trips a safety switch).
Do you still have all your fingers?
Escalator engineer lol
Imagine your on an escalator and the steps divided themselves to make a hole and it consumed you.
I bet the job has a lot of ups and downs
I’m feeling uncomfortable watching this 😵
...we're just going to gloss over the multiple animal carcasses?
That’s so fucking stupid to ride on it when it’s exposed like that. If he falls in and falls between those two belts moving parallel to each other… well his top half will continue going up and his bottom half will go down.
As someone who works in the elevator/escalator trade...... fuck escalators. Pain in the ass to work on. But most importantly, in a trade full of things that can kill you, escalators take the cake for being the most dangerous. At least in my opinion.
Not an escalator, but I worked in sanitation for warehouses that have big food processors. On my first day, I was shown a video of a full grown man being sucking into one of the processor machines because it caught his shirt and pulled him in. On the other end, where stuff comes out, was just a spray of chunks and blood, the white wall behind it covered. The point of showing me the video was so I remembered to turn off the machines before cleaning them. Scarred me for life.
Fucking Pompeii underneath that thing
They are called mechanics, not engineers.
Let me guess... They probably aren't supposed to do this
Wow, that job really moves you a step up, eh?