Request ID: FOI-4643-2324 Date published: 18 April 2024
You asked
I am writing to make a request for information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
For EACH of the previous five years (i.e. 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24) please can you tell me:
The TOTAL number of times people have fallen on escalators.
I wish the figures to be provided in spreadsheet format and broken down by underground/ overground station.
If you hold any information about the age, gender, disability of who has fallen, or if someone was intoxicated, please also provide this.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-4643-2324
Thank you for your request received on 20 March 2024 asking for information about incidents where people have fallen on escalators.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require.
The safety of our staff and customers is always our top priority and London Underground is recognised as one of the safest metros around the world. However, we are never complacent, and continuously strive to reduce injuries. Slips, trips and falls are the biggest cause of accidents on escalators, and we have been trialling and implementing a variety of ways to minimise these incidents and highlight risks and encourage safe use of escalators. These include encouraging customers to hold the handrail; walk or stand safely; be aware of the step or landing interface; and, where available, to use lifts when mobility impaired. Further initiatives to minimise slips, trips and falls include blue footprints on the steps, hand prints on the handrails, contrasting colours to highlight the ‘comb’ between the moving steps and the landings, wording on step risers, new electronic displays, under-step lighting, escalator and lift floor signs, projections of staff members giving safety messages near escalators and frequent public address announcements. Additionally, our safety campaigns, which run throughout the year, use posters in lifts, stations, as well as advertisements on the escalators across the network, to remind our customers of the risks of running on stairs and escalators. We continually monitor the effectiveness of our measures and campaigns in reducing accidents and adjust our approach accordingly. We offer comprehensive help and support to people involved in, or affected by, a life-changing incident on our network via The Sarah Hope Line: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/incident-support-service.
You asked:
For EACH of the previous five years (i.e. 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24) please can you tell me:
The TOTAL number of times people have fallen on escalators.
I wish the figures to be provided in spreadsheet format and broken down by underground/ overground station. If you hold any information about the age, gender, disability of who has fallen, or if someone was intoxicated, please also provide this.
Please find attached the following information:
1. Annual falls on escalators by station
The total number of incidents reported at each station, each year, where the recorded incident type was a “slip trip fall” and the area type was recorded as “on escalator”.
This captures all stations with incidents reported for London Underground, London Overground, and DLR. Please note that not all incidents may have resulted in injuries.
2. Annual falls on escalators by station referencing intoxication
The total number of incidents as above, but only counting those where the incident description refers to the following terms: “alcohol”, “intox” (abbreviated to account for both “intoxicated” and “intoxication”). As above, please note that not all incidents may have resulted in injuries.
3. Annual falls on escalators by station – ages of person injured
A count of persons reported as injured in the incidents counted in tables one and two, broken down by the recorded age band. Please note that some incidents reported no injuries, and some incidents reported more than one injury.
4. Annual falls on escalators by station – gender of person injured
A count of persons reported as injured in the incidents counted in tables one and two, broken down by the recorded gender. As above, please note that some incidents reported no injuries, and some incidents reported more than one injury.
Please note that the information is correct at the time supplied but the 2023/2024 data is still subject to completion of validation.
Unfortunately, to provide a similar breakdown for people with disabilities would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hoursto retrieve and compile the information you have requested. The information we hold does not allow us to reliably determine whether a person has a disability. We would therefore need to review over 7000 incidents to ascertain whether the incident record includes reference to disability.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a FOI request in future, please bear in mind that the FOI Act allows you to request recorded information held by us.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
