Two cases of strollers dislodging escalator steps since last year: BCA

SINGAPORE — Parents should not use prams on escalators, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), following an incident on Wednesday (Jan 11) when a stroller got stuck and dislodged an escalator step.

The incident, which took place at Raffles Place MRT station, was the first such reported case since the new escalator regulatory regime kicked in last November requiring owners to report any incident involving death, injury or malfunction of safety-critical components, said the BCA.

There were no injuries involved in the Raffles Place MRT station incident, said SMRT. The BCA spokesman said the authority is aware of one other such incident last year.

For their children’s safety, parents should not be pushing their strollers onto escalators, the BCA said, adding that this advice is in escalator safety posters that have been disseminated to building owners and escalator contractors.

The posters advise people pushing luggage, prams or trolleys to use the lifts instead of escalators.

Nine out of 10 parents interviewed by TODAY, however, said they were unaware of such safety advice.

A 29-year-old mother-of-two, Ms Mariam said she pushes her stroller onto escalators in shopping malls and train stations to avoid the crowd and waiting time near the lifts. She said: “I didn’t know and have never seen such safety posters near escalators.”

TODAY understands the BCA does not regulate users' behaviour or require escalator owners to display such safety reminders for escalator use.

For some like mother-of-three Ms Hidaya, who are aware of the safety guideline, there is little choice given the long queues for the lifts.

The 30-year-old said although she has seen the safety warnings, she rarely complies with the advice as it is “quicker to take the escalator” as long as the stroller is “light enough to manage”.

In response to Wednesday’s incident, SMRT’s vice-president for corporate information and communications Patrick Nathan said: “SMRT makes every effort to ensure that commuters have a safe travel experience in our network. We have station announcements and signage to remind commuters to be alert, and to prompt them on the safe use of escalators in our network. Commuters are also reminded through these announcements and signage to use passenger lifts if travelling with prams or young children, or when carrying bulky items.”

When approached by TODAY, Frasers Centrepoint Malls, which run the likes of The Centrepoint and Causeway Point, and Mapletree Investments, which operates VivoCity and HarbourFront, said they have signs at escalators to caution shoppers against bringing their prams or bulky items onto the escalators.

Photo: HarbourFront Centre

TODAY understands that these signs have been up even before Wednesday’s incident at Raffles Place.

A Mapletree spokesman said: “Our malls have been vigilant in providing precautionary messages to inform the public to take care when they board escalators.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article wrongly attributed to BCA the information that there were no injuries in the Raffles Place MRT incident. The information came from SMRT. We are sorry for the error.