12-Year-Old Thai Girl In Coma After Future Park Rangsit Escalator Accident

[hyperdimension]

Around 2 months ago in China, a toddler got her fingers stuck in an escalator: Video: Toddler gets fingers stuck in escalator

Edited September 10, 2012 by hyperdimension

[JeremyBowskill]

And you standing there and waiting for it to happen, right?

Get a life.

I am sorry for what happened to the kid, and I hope she fully recovers. :-[

Get some reading glasses I was clearly not talking about this poor young girl.

[travelmann]

This is why escalators usually have a sign saying that children should be accompanied by an adult.

And should be taught the dangers of escalators at an early age, I see many kids accompanied with parents playing on the escalators whilst parents stand by oblivious, sometimes physically clambering all over them like some great game.

[Sayonarax]

Ouch! No more pictures.. my extremities are cringing. Poor kid.

[Suradit69]

This is why escalators usually have a sign saying that children should be accompanied by an adult.

Well. Wait for it. Considering how old future park is, i wouldn't be surprised if the guards on tgd escalator were missing or some other problem.

Regardless of the age of Future Park, the escalators are all in good condition and I have rarely seen a "guard" around them. Normally people riding on these people movers don't allow their hair to come in contact with the moving steps. This was a rare accident,sad indeed, but IMHO hardly negligence on the part of F.P. I hope she recovers soon.

As i said lets see.

Here these issues are eliminated by Darwinism.

What a horrible comment to make, especially in reference to a child involved in what is probably a life-threatening accident.

Whenever I think I can no longer be surprised by the sort of thing written on this message board, I'm proven wrong.

[bbradsby]

...Now I know why some escalators have clear plastic before the moving railing meets a wall.

PRECISELY... AND why they are required in the West. I've seen the lack of effective plastic 'guard panels' all over Asia, and keep a close eye on my boy on these escalator traps.

Also very dangerous to children are the grand glass entrance 'pivot-type' doors at hotels, offices & malls. The door leaf-to-jamb aperture is quite an effective guillotine for children.

Advise and keep a close watch on your kids!

[Suradit69]

Best wishes to the young girl and hope she gets well soon but also hopes it doesn't start some kind of crackdown on escalators as watching hillbillies trying to ride them at the mall is the only thing that makes going to the mall almost worthwhile. Particularly like the ones who have to stop and count themselfs down before getting on.

Then you really ought to hang about in Nottingham where Darwinism and "counting 'themselfs' down" are still works in progress.

A shopper had his toe ripped off by an escalator after trapping his foot in the moving metal stairs.

The unnamed man was said to be "screaming in agony" after the accident, which happened at the West End Arcade in Nottingham.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/16/mans-toe-ripped-off-by-escalator-nottingham_n_1353568.html

[LivinLOS]

. I'd suggest then that Thai escalators are as safe if not safer than escalators in the EU and North America simply because

then I would suggest your off your rocker !!

You seem to forget the mai pen rai mentality to design and safety that comes with everything here. Sure the physical escalator may be a modern first world item imported that is capable of being stalled correctly. But then put into badly designed locations where gaps are non standardized and anything thats not to spec can simply be bribed to be passed instead of fundamentally fixed you end up with tragedies like this.

[atyclb]

My heart goes out to the little girl. Kids tend to bounce back from injuries.

Since this is related to escalators, let me add some comments.

Sometimes I try to see what % of locals actually hold escalator handrails. Seems 1/10 at best. What % don't hold rails and check mobile or tablet lcd 1/10 at least. Some also stand backwards without holding rails. Some sit down on steps. These are the adults. I have seen people focused on their mobiles while going down a multilevel escalator ie; Silom MRT, Esplanade movie theatre.

Things I/We have observed over and over again will repeat themselves forever unless meaningful education/critical thinking is instituted. Seems we could simply copy and paste prior comments for repetitive events.

[ishan14]

I hope she recovers soon. They should put something there to close the gap. This could have happened to any child accompanied with an adult too. I can't even think of what her mother would have felt ,when she saw her child stuck there.

[DrTuner]

I saw the photo in thairath. Place is an accident waiting to happen, the escalator should not be that close to the concrete wall.

[JeremyBowskill]

Best wishes to the young girl and hope she gets well soon but also hopes it doesn't start some kind of crackdown on escalators as watching hillbillies trying to ride them at the mall is the only thing that makes going to the mall almost worthwhile. Particularly like the ones who have to stop and count themselfs down before getting on.

Then you really ought to hang about in Nottingham where Darwinism and "counting 'themselfs' down" are still works in progress.

A shopper had his toe ripped off by an escalator after trapping his foot in the moving metal stairs.

The unnamed man was said to be "screaming in agony" after the accident, which happened at the West End Arcade in Nottingham.

http://www.huffingto..._n_1353568.html

Hey i'm from Devon where we have our fair share of stupid but that being said we don't tend to struggle with escalators too much.

Edited September 10, 2012 by JeremyBowskill

[Thai at Heart]

What a horrible comment to make, especially in reference to a child involved in what is probably a life-threatening accident.

Whenever I think I can no longer be surprised by the sort of thing written on this message board, I'm proven wrong.

Read the whole message for context. Potential accidents like this are rarely solved before they occur. Look at the design and layout of the escalator and you can see it is obviously a trapping point.

I posted that the recommended distance between the balustrade and any obstacle is meant to be 50cm. This is completely adjacent so to any person with a brain it is incorrect installation that trapped her.

She wouldn't even have had to trap her hair to injure herself. And yes, you do have to keep your wits about you in these places, the design level isn't the same as the rest of the world. It looks pretty but gaps are too big or too small for proper safety. Just look at the airport. Plenty if places for toddlers to squeeze through gaps.

So, will anything change? And yes it is generally those without their wits about them that get hurt. Of course one day when these stupid concerts inside shopping malls are going on inevitably there will be a fire or emergency? Will there be a plan to handle 1000 teenagers crammed into an area designed for foot traffic 25 percent if that?

We either take care if ourselves or we are only as likely to get out in relation to the iq of either the designer, the security guard. Not very reassuring.

[Suradit69]

What a horrible comment to make, especially in reference to a child involved in what is probably a life-threatening accident.

Whenever I think I can no longer be surprised by the sort of thing written on this message board, I'm proven wrong.

Read the whole message for context.

The thread is about a Thai child seriously injured.

You can't explain away a thinly veiled racist comment that clearly says HERE and DARWINISM, as if some basic survival-of-the-fittest rules apply here in response to a child being injured that don't apply other than HERE. It was a crude comment and context doesn't excuse it.

The mindset of anyone hearing of a child being injured and seizing that opportunity to make derogatory comments is beyond my comprehension and resorting to context as an excuse simply amplifies the insensitivity. It was offensive and suggest that Darwinism hasn't fulfilled it's promise wherever you come from.

[johnlandy]

Gross, poor thing. Now I know why some escalators have clear plastic before the moving railing meets a wall.

SOP in 1st world countries (of which Thailand is not)

An event such as this in a developed country would result in a claim (likely to be successful for millions)

[pomozki]

there's one that seems identical on an escalator at the Tukcom building here in Khon kaen - I've always feared something bad happening there

[Thai at Heart]

What a horrible comment to make, especially in reference to a child involved in what is probably a life-threatening accident.

Whenever I think I can no longer be surprised by the sort of thing written on this message board, I'm proven wrong.

Read the whole message for context.

The thread is about a Thai child seriously injured.

You can't explain away a thinly veiled racist comment that clearly says HERE and DARWINISM, as if some basic survival-of-the-fittest rules apply here in response to a child being injured that don't apply other than HERE. It was a crude comment and context doesn't excuse it.

The mindset of anyone hearing of a child being injured and seizing that opportunity to make derogatory comments is beyond my comprehension and resorting to context as an excuse simply amplifies the insensitivity. It was offensive and suggest that Darwinism hasn't fulfilled it's promise wherever you come from.

I would like it very much to stop editinr shortening my posts to make your point. Yes, uts tragic, but darwin is hell of a lot more than purely animalistic instinct, and she stupidly leant out and got her hair caught. The fault is not 100 percent the shops, it is hers too.

The thing has been operating for years faultlessly. If she had her wits about her and understood the risks fowhat she was doing she wouldn't have got hurt. Millions of people wouldn't have got into or put themselves in that position.

So what exactly does that say. Millions understand their environment better than others, either through education or their own sense. That is adapting to uour environment and that is darwinism.

[GeorgeO]

It's all down to poor design in older buildings. I have regularly travelled up escalators and noticed how they are often situated next to upper floor walls. I've envisaged how that could act like a guillotine if someone didn't have their wits about them.

Elevators should be situated away from walls, as they are in the modern shopping centres like Siam Paradise.

[GeorgeO]

Ok, so let's apply this to Thailand. Well, typically, Thai facilities with escalators tend to be modern. The equipment manufacturers are almost always the Japanese and EU companies that have kept up with safety changes through the years. I'd suggest then that Thai escalators are as safe if not safer than escalators in the EU and North America simply because they are newer and feature safety features that one won't see in the buildings and facilities that date back to the 1960's in the EU and USA.

You obviously haven't seen the escalators in Tukcum Pattaya.

Regardless of the age of the equipment, you do not see escalators in the West meeting up with an upper floor like an enormous pair of scissors! Escalators that are situated alongside walls in the West invariably have a full wall, floor to ceiling, so there is no possibility of anyone becoming trapped.

[timewilltell]

A truly sad story. I do hope this young girl recovers quickly. I don;t really think anyone should expect a 12 yr old to need an adult supervising her going up an escalator. I cannot see how you can call the girl stupid for looking over the handrail to see what was going on downstairs - probably some noisy blaring dancers or girls selling cars, sewing machines or something. I do think that the designers and the owners of the mall have a responsibility for reasonable safety and have to shoulder some of the blame since the accident has a foresee-ability. Society also shoulders some responsibility for educating kids properly (which is done to a far poorer standard here than many other countries but probably every country needs improvement in that department) and government shoulders responsibility for allowing the continued abuse and poor rationalisation of the buildings standards here and especially the corruption which avoids even those sub-basic standards for a quick baht of extra profit.

The west has health and safety gone mad and here it is close to non-existent by and large. As for Darwinism - maybe here that applies to the progress of a corrupt and greedy society - more elitism maybe?

So the analysis aside may the girl make a speedy recovery and someone in power maybe spend a nanosecond in contemplating if something might be improved.

[indyuk]

This was a tragic accident. I hope the child has 100% recover and that meanwhile someone comforts her mother.

It is difficult to see how the accident could have happened if and adult was with her. Many young children have no sense of danger and love to play on escalators. Any adult seeing children in harms way should intervene for the sake of the child's personal safty.

[hellodolly]

Kids being kids...no matter how much you tell them.

My daughter has very long hair and at times just doing something innocently stupid and so quick, she could easily get her hair caught in it.

I always try to keep her alongside me and explain it to her, but kids ignore such.

They surely do and I would imagine many of us did to as did are parents. Kids will always be inquisitive and some times some thing goes wrong. I can remember when they did not even have a helmet for a bicycle ride but we still rode them.

Always sad to see things like this happen.

But on the other hand it is good to see that we are not raising a generation of robots.

[Skytrain2hell]

You hear about these things happening and pass them off as urban legends and then it actually happens.

Urban myth? Not really. Reporting depends upon a country's surveillance system. As such the USA has the best statistics followed by the EU. Let's use the USA numbers since the USA has the most comprehensive tracking.

The USA reports approx. 8,000-10,000 escalator injuries in any given year. In children, it is typically the loss of fingers and toes, lacerations and strangulation when garments become entangled in the machinery. In the elderly, it is typically trips. slips and falls. (See 2001 Neiss Analysis)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2008) — In the first large scale national study of escalator-related injuries to older adults, researchers led by Joseph O'Neil, M.D., MPH, and Greg Steele, Dr.PH., MPH, of the Indiana University School of Medicine, report that the rate of these injuries Using U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data, the researchers found nearly 40,000 older adults were injured on escalators between 1991 and 2005. The most frequent cause of injury was a slip, trip or fall resulting in a bruise or contusion. The most common injuries were to the lower extremities. However, most injuries were not serious. Only 8 percent of the 39,800 injured were admitted to the hospital after evaluation in an emergency department.

Ok, so let's apply this to Thailand. Well, typically, Thai facilities with escalators tend to be modern. The equipment manufacturers are almost always the Japanese and EU companies that have kept up with safety changes through the years. I'd suggest then that Thai escalators are as safe if not safer than escalators in the EU and North America simply because they are newer and feature safety features that one won't see in the buildings and facilities that date back to the 1960's in the EU and USA.

Was that your 10,000th post? I hope it was, because it was fabulous. I'm not sure why people on TV are so quick to blame Thailand for things that would be considered somewhat normal in their own countries, but you hit the nail on the head here. Thanks.

Anyway, it's terrible what happened to this girl. I did a lot of stupid sh*t when I was a kid (slightly less nowadays), yet I was lucky to make it out with my limbs and life. I hope she makes a full recovery.

[Nigel1500]

This is why escalators usually have a sign saying that children should be accompanied by an adult.

Well. Wait for it. Considering how old future park is, i wouldn't be surprised if the guards on tgd escalator were missing or some other problem.

Must you always blame someone for what appears to be a genuine accident? I don't see many "escalator guards" around !!!

[Nigel1500]

One question I have is why the "Thai" girl designation in the title of this thread. Is that of any relevance?

Actually, this question is smarter than you think. 12 year old school girls are required to have bob cuts. How far was she bending down? I don't ask the question in attempt to apportion any blame either. It just seems surreal to me as her hair can't have been more than 6-8" long.

[phuturatica]

What a horrible accident. I wish her a speedy recovery and hope she will be ok.

[DrTuner]

12 year old school girls are required to have bob cuts. How far was she bending down? I don't ask the question in attempt to apportion any blame either. It just seems surreal to me as her hair can't have been more than 6-8" long.

Private schools don't necessarily require short hair.

[Thai at Heart]

This is why escalators usually have a sign saying that children should be accompanied by an adult.

Well. Wait for it. Considering how old future park is, i wouldn't be surprised if the guards on tgd escalator were missing or some other problem.

Must you always blame someone for what appears to be a genuine accident? I don't see many "escalator guards" around !!!

Look at the pictures i posted. Then look at the manual i posted. Escalators are not meant to be positioned like this. Simple. Accidents actually aren't often down to chok mai dee. You can guarantee the manufacturers arent to treat this as a pure accident, otherwise people would be getting injured like this every day.

[thaigold]

I recall several years ago when the escalator at Victory Monument had just opened. A young woman stood at the foot of the moving stairs trying to figure out how to get on. After a few moments she mounted the stairs and dragged her young daughter behind her. The little girl was terrified. The mother, equally unsure, let loose the hand of the child and gripped the moving hand rail.

The little girl immediately fell backward .... and guess what? Me, the Farang caught the child and guided her up the ramp. This poor upcountry woman had never been on or seen an escalator before. Amazing Thailand.

[geriatrickid]

. I'd suggest then that Thai escalators are as safe if not safer than escalators in the EU and North America simply because

then I would suggest your off your rocker !!

You seem to forget the mai pen rai mentality to design and safety that comes with everything here. Sure the physical escalator may be a modern first world item imported that is capable of being stalled correctly. But then put into badly designed locations where gaps are non standardized and anything thats not to spec can simply be bribed to be passed instead of fundamentally fixed you end up with tragedies like this.

I believe that you are approaching this with the intent of being negative. I do not doubt for a minute that there are some poorly maintained facilities and installations in Thailand. However, if one looks at the overall picture, the risks are not greater than elsewhere. Let's take some examples. The escalators at CDG and LAX are old generation. The escalators at BKK are modern. Which one do you think will have more issues? When is the last time an escalator caught fire in the Bangkok subway system? Fires and breakdowns are common in the London tube.

That was my point. Because the Thai equipment is relatively modern it is more likely to have the later model safety features. Have a look at the equipment in Thailand. It is typically Japanese or EU sourced and both sources are reliable. The elevator companies such as J&L Jardines Schindler, Thyssen and the Otis agents all have decent standards and are reliable firms with ongoing training for staff. You just can't get Somchai to do these installations or servicing. It is done by established firms with reliable standards.

The issue comes down to the humans. Both children and the elderly have mobility issues and that is who typically are the ones getting injured. These injuries are not specific to Thailand or to Australia or to Belgium as a child's hand is equally small and just as likely to get trapped anywhere. In this specific case we have a case of hair being trapped. It is a bit odd and I have a feeling the story is missing some details. Usually with slow choking like this, one would see chunks of the scalp being ripped out. There had to be a large amount of hair involved and most likely some clothes.

In the cases of women having their scarves trapped it is often because it was too long and trailing or the woman bent over to retrieve a dropped object. In the case of children that have scarves trapped, they typically all have the same height that gets the equipment sweet spot for choking. Look at the footwear of those that trip and slip. Almost always filp flops, spike heels and smooth soled shoes are implicated.

Escalator injuries occur everyday and are typically a result of human error, not equipment deficiency.

I will continue to ride the Thai elevator system without fear.

The wise ones in this thread have noted the most important point; hold your kid's hand and supervise your kid when using an escalator.