Manhattan Subway Escalator Accident Injures Woman

 An accident at the 34th Street-Herald Square station in Midtown Manhattan seriously injured a woman on an escalator. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the mid-morning incident occurred as the woman was walking on an escalator between the platform and the mezzanine at the subway.
FDNY officials stated that the woman got caught in the New York City subway escalator before falling down the stairs Tuesday morning. The victim fell close to the southbound F train platform, injuring her foot. She was reported to be in a serious condition after the caught by escalator accident and rushed to Bellevue Hospital, based on the news report. Our best wishes to the severely injured victim here for a quick recovery.

Caught by Escalator Hazards
A spokesperson with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) said that the escalator was stopped after the entrapment injury accident by the operation of the emergency stop button at its base. This subway escalator has since been taken out of service.
Entrapment due to a body part or piece of clothing, shoes etc. getting wedged in the gaps between the moving parts of an escalator and falls on and over escalators account for three-quarters of all escalator injuries, the Massachusetts based organization Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. (SRS) stated. Also, injuries occur much more frequently on escalators nationwide – about 15 times more – than on elevators. This is due to the fact that escalator passengers outnumber their elevator counterparts. An estimated 35,000 escalators transport 105 billion passengers per year while 900,000 elevators make 18 billion passenger trips per year.
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study done in March 2013 estimates that approximately 10,000 escalator-related injuries occur each year in the United States requiring emergency department treatment for the victims. The NIH study also looked at 173 patients with 285 discrete injuries and found that of those injuries 62 percent occurred in public transport facilities such as subway stations and 30 percent in shipping centers.
Escalator Defects
Handrail entrapments, comb plate entrapment, broken or missing steps, and stalled escalators that are used as stairs may lead to escalator injuries and fatalities. A comb plate may have missing teeth and as passengers step off at the landing of the defective escalator, they or a piece of their clothing, a shoe etc. may get caught. Further, if the gap between the skirting and the moving stairs on an escalator is too wide, then, clothing or even body parts can be caught inside the mechanism.
When the brake of an escalator that has stalled or an escalator that has been turned off is faulty, damaged or not set correctly, its steps may start moving again and cause riders to slip and fall or trip and fall. A defectively designed escalator may have sidewalls that are not high enough to prevent riders from losing their balance and/or falling over.
Who Can be Held Liable
Escalator accidents often result in serious and permanent injuries, and in some cases even death. Victims may suffer debilitating injuries and disfigurement that cause long-term disabilities. When a victim’s hands or feet become caught in an escalator’s moving parts, he or she may suffer catastrophic injuries such as an amputation. Common injuries suffered by victims in escalator accidents include, but are not limited to, bone fractures, lacerations, contusions, bruises, traumatic brain injuries, spinal damage, internal organ damage and neck injuries, etc.
A number of parties including, but not limited to, the manufacturer, the maintenance company, the property manager and/or property owner, the transit authority, etc. may be potentially held liable for an escalator accident injury or death. A victim injured by a malfunctioning or poorly maintained escalator, for instance, may file a premises liability claim and hold the property manager and/or property owner as well as the maintenance company liable for damages such as medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. the family of a deceased victim can also seek compensation by filing what is known as a wrongful death claim against the at-fault parties. Such claims seek compensation for damages that may include lost future income, medical and funeral expenses, pain and suffering, etc.
How an Experienced Lawyer Can Help
If you or a loved one has been injured in an escalator accident or if you have lost a loved one in an elevator accident, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. Our law firm recovered $3,000,000 for a man who fell and suffered two broken legs when he walked into an open elevator shaft.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/woman-injures-foot-subway-escalator-fall-midtown-article-1.2948426