As many of you will be aware the investigation of escalator accidents is one of my areas of interest. Dr Lutfi Al Sharif, in his paper entitled “Escalator Human Factors: Passenger behavior, accidents & design” [1] created a Venn diagram identifying the three inputs to escalator passenger accidents.

These were:

• Design

• Maintenance, Inspection & Operation

• Passenger Behaviour

The Venn diagram can be seen below (Fig 1) with the section entitled “Passenger Behaviour” highlighted in yellow.

The number of escalator accidents involving personal injury occurring are rising and litigation following accidents is similarly increasing. The works of Gerk [2], Cooper [3], White [4] and Owen [5] indicate this is the case.

When litigation occurs the contribution of all three elements of the Venn diagram will be taken into consideration and escalator owners (the defendants) will want to promote the actions of the passengeras primary causation whereas the claimant (generally the injured party) will want to point towards defects in design and/or maintenance, inspection & operation.