As far as I am aware there hasn't been any prosecutions, the escalators conformed to all regulations, the gaps between the escalators were correct, apparently the young girls coat sleeve got caught in the handrail while she was standing on the landing beside the escalator, the result of which picked her up and threw her over the edge, it was an accident, and from the knowledge I have the young girl made quite a good recovery. I actually met the inspectors from this accident, without revealing details when asked if the escalators were installed wrongly, the reply was, the escalators are still working, in other words there wasn't a problem with them. Horrible incident that thankfully didn't end in tragedy, but it was an accident.

It was a Primark shop, it hadn't been open that long, the escalators were not at fault, it was big news at the time as the young girl was badly injured, however as far as I am aware she was making a dramatic recovery. The escalators were back in use very shortly after the accident, and no modifications were necessary.

Bob, I understand your concerns, but it was a freak accident. As i stated the escalators were back in service soon afterwards, the LA inspectors did a full investigation along side the escalator manufacturer and the insurance company, they found no faults at all.

Sean, is there any such thing as a "freak" accident? Surely an accident is just an accident and that is why we do risk assessments, i.e. to establish the likelihood and severity of a recurrence. The HSE obviously think that the likelihood of a similar accident happening again is very remote or they would have taken some enforcement action.

Good point, Ken In which case, is anyone aware of any modifications being made to existing installations? LB

So what if - I carry out a risk assessment at that place (before this event happened), and one of my main findings is the possibility of a young child wearing a particular garment could be picked up by the escalator lifted off the ground and thrown down through the gap, I think that would have been laughed off as impossible, ney ridiculous. That's what happens when people see us as pedantic and over the top. The something like this happens.......................................

The only thing i can add (knowing the previous store on site was Littlewoods) Had anything actually changed in the design of the escalators from the previous tenant to Primark? As the above member has posted, surely if their was something that could be done, in all the investigations carried out then it would have been done.

I too have read this post with interest, and I have to add that an accident occurred, the authorities investigated and found no requirement to make modifications to the equipment, surely says that the likelihood of a recurrence would be extremely low, and maybe one of the causal factors was that the child was unsupervised. The fact is that you cannot eliminate all risks, even if an accident has occurred, and as another post has said, we do not have all the facts.

Arew these factors in the public domain? If so then a link would help inform the debate

Ken, There was obviously a fault with the automatic gates, there was no fault found with the escalator!!

Perhaps some contributors are overlooking the probability factor in this risk. Just because a 1 in 1000 years event occurred yesterday it does not mean that the original prediction was wrong, nor that it can not happen again tomorrow. I have no specific knowledge of the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident but I am confident that following a death of a child in a publicly accessible place the Authorities will have fully investigated and made requirements for change if they had found grounds to do so. They appear to have agreed that the safety arrangememts were reasonable at that time. Hindsight is a great faculty to have but needs to be used with full knowledge of the facts. From one poster's comments it appears that most of use are not in full possesion of those. Are we therefore in danger of behaving like those sections of the media we (and particularly me) are so quick to decry?

Is it the possibility that it is moving machinery the reason we believe more could be done. How many children are seriously injured or killed by falling down a set of steps either at home or in a public place. But we don't suddenly want to stop people from using stairs or want some radical change to stairs. Although tragic children are at risk everyday as they go about there normal lives why we should do our best to reduce the risk children are naturally curious and unaware of the danger around them and will often place themselves at risk in carrying out activity we know as adults carry a lot of risk even in the most innocent of places. I think we need to accept if there where an issue with the design of the escalators then something would have been done. But may be putting time and effort into other areas of children lives we can do more to protect them from harm and make realistic and meaningful changes rather than knee jerk reactions to a tragic accident. probably the number one major risk to children is in road accidents so spending time teaching children road safety and slowing down when you drive past a school is going to do more in saving lives than debating this tragic loss. How many who have contributed or read this topic actually drive at 30 in a 30 limit ensuring you do this will do more to save a life than debating on here on this topic. Just my views and not meant to cause offence or aimed at anyone but i think we need to concentrate on where we can make the biggest difference rather than get hooked into this one event but hopefully a few more parents will supervise there children better when using escalators rather than letting then run up and down then and lean over the handrails that they currently seem to do despite the warning signs. All the best phil