At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are
popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes
caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky
soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.
One of the nation's largest subway systems -- the Washington
Metro -- has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes
on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile,
though they don't mention Crocs by name.
Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Croc-clad foot caught in an
escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother
managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost
completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.
At first, Rory's mother had no idea what caused the boy's foot
to get caught. It was only later, when someone at the hospital
remarked on Rory's shoes, that she began to suspect the Crocs and
did an Internet search.
"I came home and typed in 'Croc' and 'escalator,' and all these
stories came up," said Jodi McDermott, of Vienna, Va. "If I had
known, those would never have been worn."
According to reports appearing across the United States and as
far away as Singapore and Japan, entrapments occur because of two
of the biggest selling points of shoes like Crocs: their
flexibility and grip. Some report the shoes get caught in the
"teeth" at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack
between the steps and the side of the escalator.
The reports of serious injuries have all involved young
children. Crocs are commonly worn by children as young as 2. The
company introduced shoes in its smallest size, 4/5, this past
spring.
Niwot, Colo.-based Crocs Inc. said it does not keep records of
the reasons for customer-service calls. But the company said it is
aware of "very few" problems relating to accidents involving the
shoes, which are made of a soft, synthetic resin.
"Thankfully, escalator accidents like the one in Virginia are
rare," the company said in a statement.
In Japan, the government warned consumers last week that it has
received 39 reports of sandals -- mostly Crocs or similar products --
getting stuck in escalators from late August through early
September. Most of the reports appear to have involved small
children, some as young as two years old.
Kazuo Motoya of Japan's National Institute of Technology and
Evaluation said children may have more escalator accidents in part
because they "bounce around when they stand on escalators, instead
of watching where they place their feet."
In Singapore, a 2-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs -- it's
unclear what brand -- had her big toe completely ripped off in an
escalator accident last year, according to local media reports.
And at the Atlanta airport, a 3-year-old boy wearing Crocs
suffered a deep gash across the top of his toes in June. That was
one of seven shoe entrapments at the airport since May 1, and all
but two of them involved Crocs, said Roy Springer, operations
manager for the company that runs the airport terminal.
One U.S. retailer that caters to children, Mattel subsidiary
American Girl, has posted signs in three locations directing
customers wearing Crocs or flip-flop sandals to use elevators
instead of escalators.
During the past two years, so-called "shoe entrapments" in the
Washington subway have gone from being relatively rare to happening
four or five times a week in the summer, though none has caused
serious injuries, said Dave Lacosse, who oversees the subway's 588
escalators, the most of any U.S. transit system.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said escalator
accidents caused more than 10,000 injuries last year, but the
agency has few records of specific shoe problems. Only two shoe
entrapments have been reported by consumers since the beginning of
2006. One reported in May involved "rubber footwear."
Agency spokesman Ed Kang urged people who have had problems to
report them on the commission's Web site.
Crocs officials said they were working with the Elevator
Escalator Safety Foundation on public education initiatives. But
the group's executive director, Barbara Allen, said that's not
true.
Allen said a Crocs official called her in September 2006 about
possible cooperation, even suggesting the company might put a tag
in its shoes with the foundation's Web address. But since that
first contact, Crocs has not called, and nobody from the company
will return Allen's calls, she said.
Washington Metro's Lacosse and other escalator experts say the
best way to prevent shoe entrapments is to face the direction the
stairs are moving, keep feet away from the sides and step over the
teeth at the end.
Lacosse, of the Washington subway system, said he is personally
skittish of Crocs and other soft-soled shoes.
"Would I wear them? No," he said. "And I tell my children not
to wear them either."
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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