Is Our Child Safe on the Escalator?

Abstract

the escalator. Methods: An observational study was conducted at six randomly selected shopping malls in the Kinta District of Perak State in Malaysia. Sample size of 258 caregiver-child pairs was calculated. Children and their care- givers were observed for unsafe behaviours by using a checklist consisting of 15 unsafe behaviours (e.g.: child sitting on escalator, travelling facing opposite direction, playing with the emergency stop button, not following caregivers’ instruction). The checklist was constructed from accredited escalator guidelines adapted from five different countries. A child was considered unsafe if there was at least one of the unsafe events observed. The proportion of child using escalator in an unsafe manner was analysed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics. Results: Of the 258 child-caregiver pairs observed, 149 (57.8%) children and 162 (63.8%) caregivers demonstrated at least one unsafe behaviour when using the escalator. ‘Not following caregiver’s instructions’ (28.7%) was the most common unsafe behaviour among children while the most common unsafe behaviour among caregivers was ‘not holding their child’s hand when using the escalator’ (41.7%). Four children used the escalator unattended. Conclusion: More than half of the children and their caregivers had used escalators in an unsafe manner and this required attention from the Public Health Department and the Department of Occupational Safety and Health to prevent unwanted injuries, especially among children.