The 1996 code revision on escalator step gaps actually increased accidents for 3 years

I was looking through some old ASME A17.1 standards last month at the union hall, and found a study from 1998. Turns out when they tightened the step gap tolerance from 4mm to 3mm, the number of entrapment incidents went up 12% for three years after. Nobody talks about this because everyone assumes tighter is always safer. Has anyone else run across old data that flips conventional wisdom on its head?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_gonzalez615d ago

Honestly, that's interesting but how often does that even happen anyway?

sarahsullivan5d ago

wait so youre telling me this is one of those things that sounds crazy but actually has a solid track record? like how often does it even come up in day to day life where you gotta make that call? i could see maybe if youre dealing with like an old rickety building or something but for a normal house seems like youd never hit that situation