Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Real reason escalator steps have grooves in them

Home> Community> Weird

Updated 13:01 22 Sep 2023 GMT+1Published 12:34 22 Sep 2023 GMT+1

Real reason escalator steps have grooves in them

Next time you are at your local shopping mall, you'll be thankful for this weird safety feature.

Katherine Sidnell

Katherine Sidnell

Unless you are Buddy the Elf or a small child, escalators are probably not your favourite thing.

Let’s face it, you don’t have to look hard to find numerous clips online of people falling on the stairs as they try to get off or an even scarier scenario of an escalator appearing to swallow someone up through a large hole.

Unbeknownst to the public though, escalators are actually designed with tons of safety features to help us go about our day.

I bet you've never thought about what those grooves on the step are for until now.

Advert

People might believe that they are there to help with grip and ensure that customers in the local shopping centre don’t fall when travelling on the escalator.

Whilst it can help with this, they exist for a surprising reason and it’s actually more important than you’d think.

With all those safety features, we still wouldn't suggest you wear flip-flops.
Pexels

As the steps travel towards the top, the grooves actually sync up with a comb plate and lock in as they slide through.

This prevents anything from becoming trapped between the stairs and the floor – which could cause the escalator to break down.

Advert

Whilst it's not foolproof, it is one of many weird design features that most of us wouldn’t even know about.

If that weren’t impressive enough, grooves also act as a place for liquids to pool meaning that no one ends up falling due to the wet floor, The Reader's Digest says.

Pretty neat.

However, there’s another hidden design feature which also protects you on an escalator – the nylon bristles.

There is also 'safety brush' on escalators.
Pexels

Advert

You’ll see these ‘safety brushes’ on virtually every escalator in the world, but there’s a pretty scary reason why they exist.

Much like the grooves, they were designed to keep things from getting caught between the moving stairs and the balustrade skirt.

If they weren't there, there would be a high chance of your clothes getting stuck in the moving escalator – which could result in an either embarrassing or dangerous incident.

Cleverly, the brushes also act as a psychological deterrent too.

When the passenger feels a brush moving against their leg or clothing they will instinctively move it away preventing it from getting snagged on the escalator.

Advert

Whilst this might not make them any less scary for little kids or fictional elves, the brushes were deemed so important that they were mandatory in 2004.

According to British and European standard BS EN115-1:1995, the requirement of fitting the ‘skirt deflectors’ or ‘escalator brushes’ reduces the likelihood of getting stuck by lessening the likelihood of items entering the gap between the steps and skirt by obstruction.

The more you know, eh?

Featured Image Credit: Getty stock images

Topics: Weird, UK News

Katherine Sidnell
Katherine Sidnell

Katherine is an entertainment journalist with a love of all things nerdy. Starting out writing Doctor Who fan fiction as a kid, she has gone on to interview the likes of Matt Damon, James May and Dua Lipa to name a few. Published in The Sun, The Daily Mail and Evening Standard - she now joins Ladbible as resident nerd in chief.

X

@ksidnell

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Why seeing a pink flamingo on cruise could mean someone is a swinger

    The more you know

    Community
  • a day ago

    Relationship expert reveals what you should never say to a potential partner if you want them to like you

    Apparently it makes you come across as rude

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    Boxer left unconscious after freak electric shock accident in cannabis event

    Ivan Parshikov jumped straight into a swimming pool afterwards.

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    Cambridge professor reveals ultimate heatwave hack to cool down your sweltering car in seconds

    The maths professor used science to explain why the easy method works

    Community
  • Real reason why some Olympians have dark circles on their bodies
  • Couple lie to children and tell them their birthday is on different day each year for very important reason
  • People are just finding out real reason pint glasses have a bulge on them
  • Man walked 100,000 steps in one day to see the massive impact it would have on his body