Shanghai man's lower leg amputated after getting trapped in escalator

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNN

By Tiffany Ap and Steven Jiang, CNN
Updated 6:03 AM ET, Mon August 3, 2015

(CNN)—A Shanghai man's lower leg has been amputated after becoming trapped in a mall escalator, the third serious escalator-related accident in China in a week.

The 35-year-old man, surnamed Zhang, was a cleaner at the Cloud Nine shopping mall in Shanghai, state media said. ... Video surveillance footage from Saturday evening shows him placing a cloth near the top of the escalator and stepping on it to clean the escalator equipment before one of the escalator's metal floor panels give way, trapping his left lower leg.
....

An investigation into the accident is still underway but the latest state media reports say the victim violated operation regulations by not shutting the escalator down first before cleaning it. ... It is the third escalator incident in China this past week that has resulted in a serious injury or fatality.

Mall tragedy

Last Wednesday, a similar incident resulted in the death of a young mother. Thirty-year-old Xiang Liujuan fell through an escalator metal panel to her death in Jingzhou, a city located in central China, although she was able to push her two-year-old son to safety. ... Two days before that in the southwestern province of Guangxi, a toddler's left hand and arm were caught in a gap of an escalator after he tripped and fell at the bottom, firefighters told local media. He suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured arm, and was hospitalized.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/03/asia/shanghai-mall-escalator-amputation/

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I was going to say, "yes, another one of these," but this is the third one of these. Earlier this week:

Chinese woman trapped in escalator dies, but saves toddler son

I thought that was the first, but no, it was the second. The first was the one with the toddler.

This third incident appears to have been the result of improper maintenance procedures. The correct way to perform the maintenance involves a step called "lockout/tagout." Here's a link to an OSHA website about lockout/tagout:

Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)

[Sunlei]

1. who sells all the old escalators systems to China? They were junked in the USA, for safer models.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. China makes escalators and sells them internationally...they have the world's largest at 10 stories

You can shop for an escalator here:

http://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Escalator.html

[Sunlei]

6. wow, one would think they have an automatic shutoff when they start to drag in someone, anything.

my auto gate will stop and alarm even if a pebble is on its track or its chain link is slightly off.

[cosmicone]

2. The chinese knock-off elevators

seem to have a design defect.

[marble falls]

3. Enforced effective safety regulations are a good thing.

[Orrex]

5. Nice post, comrade.

The nightmare nanny state that you envision would surround us with people not getting mangled by dangerous, unregulated machinery.

Is that the kind of world you want to live in, you commie?

[Historic NY]

7. I not a big escalator fan...

Last edited Mon Aug 3, 2015, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

people with trouble getting moving on the first step forward in motion need to be more aware. Sometimes my ankle locks momentarily and older people well they normally don't move that well. Something is very wrong perhaps they need to examine other stops systems similar to whats on garage doors, even those weren't perfected until there was a large death count.

[snooper2]

9. People need to use the stairs anyway...we are too fat as a nation

[candelista]

8. That's Shanghai.

So is this:



When this happens, the electricity goes out, and the storekeepers all start up their handy generators.