The escalators can become death traps – Sydsvenskan

Monitoring Picture from the escalator that wrecked the Hyllie station in January this year.

Photo: Albin Brönmark

If a child had been in the escalator could have ended in disaster. Now was the chance – no escalator safety – that made the emergency stop finally got the deadly escalator to stay.

See also: The escalators at Hyllie off

About a year ago there was a similar accident Östermalms subway station in Stockholm . It had devastating consequences.

An elderly woman who was going to the movies with your kids stuck with the leg when the escalator “dropped” a step. Emergency services struggled for two hours to free the woman who almost lost the leg.

– I hear a terrible metallic noise. The staircase lose rhythm and at the same moment opens up the stairs where my left leg ends and becomes imminent. I feel really bad and is scarred for life, “the woman wrote in a letter to Aftonbladet, several months after the accident.

The accident had consequences Stockholm Public Transport 786 000 daily passengers.

Photo: Patrick Persson

39 escalators in 11 stations were closed immediately. After extensive security enhancements opened escalators again three weeks later.

See also: Police: “It’s annoying crowded”

Every day tens of thousands of people train station in Hyllie . After escalator breakdown in January called control and security Dekra in to do an independent review. The same company did the accident investigation after the accident in Stockholm.

Photo: Patrick Persson

Sydsvenskan have read the accident report from Hyllie.

The conclusion is clear:

• All four escalators in Hyllie have such large gaps that they can quickly become directly dangerous.

• the investigators have revealed that the are over 70 improperly installed bolts and washers on all four escalators in Hyllie. “A serious deficiency risk giving breakdowns like that occurred,” write the investigators.

• Several security systems to be activated in an accident. But when it occurred in Hyllie was the system for “Missing step” off.

Photo: Patrick Persson

“In practice this means that the escalator can continue to go despite a step missing. This is a very serious anomaly that increases the risk of serious incidents and injuries. Escalator safety system must work “, hitting crash investigation firm.

– The security system is a backup, says crash investigator Peter Wild.

escalator belt and braces?

– Exactly. And when both suspenders and the belt does not work then this type of escalator breakdowns and steps crashes occur.

– Now it was thankfully good. No standing on the step. See what happened in Stockholm, the woman had her legs squeezed hard. It could have ended much worse, he said.

Why crashed escalator in Hyllie really?

The the first step that broke was made in 2014. But for unknown reasons it had 50 percent less quality than other steps. It may have been mounted there afterwards. But there are no records of. “Remarkably,” according to the investigators.

In addition, the rate of protection at the supervisors, that the black band to put your hand on, disconnected.

– The staircase and the supervisor should go at the same speed. Otherwise, to lose control and fall forward or back. It helps especially for the elderly and children, said Peter Wild.

station in Hyllie, including escalators, owned by the city of Malmö.

– this is very serious, says Sabina Nesimovic street office.

Sabina Nesimovic, managers at the city office, the escalator at Hyllie station in the winter, before the accident.

Photo: Albin Brönmark

Now all escalators at Hyllie station stopped.

– They have not managed to get the security system “Missing step”. It must work. It can be seriously injured in an escalator, she says.

the escalators have been built and serviced by Kone, one of the world’s largest escalator industry .

– They may not be running the security system. Now we are waiting for an answer. They need to fix them. we will not start until the escalators are 110 percent safe.

There are long escalators in the Triangle and Malmö as well.

are they as dangerous?

– It’s a brand another type of escalators there. They have recently been surveyed so there is no need to worry, says Sabina Nesimovic.