Elevator, escalator accidents spike among over-65s

The annual number of accidents involving senior citizens on automated transportation devices including elevators, escalators and moving walkways has been increasing since 2020, a report by the state-run consumer protection agency showed Wednesday.

A total of 1,507 such accidents involving the over-65s were registered at the Consumer Injury Surveillance System from 2020 to September of this year, according to the Korea Consumer Agency. The yearly figure for these accidents of the elderly increased every year from 116 in 2020, but shot up to 646 in 2023. There were 333 accidents logged in the first nine months of this year. This means almost two-thirds of the accidents happened since the beginning of last year.

The report indicated that the 65 and above were more prone to accidents on elevators, escalators and moving walkways than any other age group, with 0.68 accidents per 10,000 people in 2023. This was over five times more than the next most accident-prone age group, 0.12 accidents per population for 6-12 age group.

Nearly 92 percent accidents involving senior citizens concerned falling. Over 85 percent the accidents occurred on escalators, about 12 percent on elevators and the rest on moving walkways.

A little over half of these accidents led to an injury to the face or the head.

Based on the findings, the KCA plans to distribute a guideline on accident prevention for the senior citizens, in cooperation with the civilian sector's Korean Association for Safe Communities.