The plastic triangle can be found on many escalators and most people have probably seen it before. Although inconspicuous, it is extremely important.
Munich – There are objects that everyone encounters in everyday life without really knowing what they actually serve. For example, the visible black edge with black dots on car windows or the small, fifth pocket on jeans. The plastic triangle that you often find on escalators in department stores also fits into this list. Some people won't even have noticed it explicitly. However, its function is extremely important: it eliminates a source of accidents.
Plastic triangle on escalators in department stores is for safety
If two escalators located next to each other intersect, you will find the aforementioned plastic triangle at the intersection at the level of the handrail. The safety feature is also used if the stairs pass through a ceiling breakthrough. In an information brochure from the elevator and escalator company Schindler you can also find the official technical term for it: deflector. “All interfaces must be protected – those to the building and also the outside of the escalator balustrade,” it continues.
The triangular deflector is intended to prevent “dangerous crushing,” as a spokeswoman for the elevator and escalator operator Schindler explained when asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA
. Without the plastic protection, arms or other body parts could become trapped and crushed in the tapered gap. It also ensures that no one can “climb up the outside of the balustrade”.
Children in particular tend to see escalators as play equipment rather than as a means of transport. They fight around and sometimes stick their heads over the side of the handrail. Accidents and injuries occur again and again. In the worst case, without the deflector, this could end in death.
Deflectors and other safety precautions – these safety features have escalators
In addition to the deflector, there are numerous other safety measures that are intended to guarantee safe transport. Some of them, such as the base brushes, are well known, others are probably not known to most people.
Other common safety precautions for escalators:
Base brushes
: According to the Schindler press spokeswoman, they serve as “spacers so that shoes, shoelaces or similar items do not get pulled in at the side of the edge.”
Handrail retraction protection
: Ensures that the hand cannot get caught in the handrail retraction.
LED step gap lighting
: Makes it clear where one step ends and the next begins to prevent falls or trips
Yellow safety markings on the steps
: Also serves to improve visibility and demarcate the individual steps.
Grooves in the steps
: ensure more slip resistance.
Despite all the measures, accidents cannot be completely prevented. Just last year, a woman fell on an escalator in Munich and died. (
sp
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