WASHINGTON–At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky, soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.
The Washington Metro has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways.
Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Crocs-clad foot caught in an escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off.
According to reports appearing across the United States and as far away as Singapore and Japan, entrapments occur because of two of the biggest selling points of shoes like Crocs: their flexibility and grip. Some say the shoes get caught in the "teeth" at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of the escalator.
Crocs Inc., based in Niwot, Colo., said it does not keep records of the reasons for customer-service calls. But the company said it is aware of "very few" problems relating to accidents involving the shoes, which are made of a soft, synthetic resin.
"Thankfully, escalator accidents like the one in Virginia are rare," the company said in a statement.
In Japan, the government warned consumers last week it has received 39 reports of sandals – mostly Crocs or similar products – getting stuck in escalators from late August through early September. Most of the reports appear to have involved small children, some as young as 2.
And at the Atlanta airport, a 3-year-old boy wearing Crocs suffered a deep gash across the top of his toes in June. That was one of seven shoe entrapments at the airport since May 1, and all but two of them involved Crocs.
During the past two years, so-called "shoe entrapments" in the Washington subway have gone from being relatively rare to happening four or five times a week in the summer, though none has caused serious injuries, said Dave Lacosse, who oversees the subway's 588 escalators, the most of any U.S. transit system.
The Toronto Transit Commission, which oversees close to 300 escalators and is the single largest escalator owner in Canada, does not consider Crocs a safety issue, said spokesperson Marilyn Bolton.
The TTC has very few accidents related to loose clothing or shoes each year, Bolton told the Star's Megan Ogilvie.
Lyla Miller, spokesperson for Toronto Emergency Services, said Crocs safety has not emerged as an issue for paramedics."
http://www.thestar.com/article/257690
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