The brushes located at the level of the steps of the escalators are more useful than it seems and no, they are not used to polish your shoes…
Accessories or useful details? It is in the second category that the brushes installed along the escalators must be placed. And don’t think that these brushes are used to dust shoes – a bad idea in short for light-colored shoes which may come out dirtier than clean from this quick brushing.
These brushes, also called plinth deflectors, systematically present on both sides of the steps of an escalator, are in fact part of the safety measures of the escalator.
But what do these brushes that often go unnoticed or question more observant children protect us from? Simply the thin space between the end of the step and the side of the escalator, a hole that opens directly into the gears and motors that allow the escalator to move up or down.
Barriers to alert users
If the space is tight, a piece of clothing or worse a finger or a toe quickly gets stuck in it, causing significant damage to the machinery of the escalator, but above all serious accidents for users. And such misadventures have already happened to children who fingers are fracturedeven have been amputated in the worst case.
If the escalator brushes do not completely block the hole, they act as barriers and above all alert the user who would approach too close to the edge or whose scarf would be on the verge of getting stuck. Who has never been surprised by this feeling of tickling or just being touched by something at the level of the escalator steps and moved a few centimeters?
If this has happened to you, it’s because the escalator brushes fulfill their mission daily and ward off danger. Often these brushes are lined with yellow lines around the edges of each step, but with even more discreet marking than the skirting board deflectors, the brushes seem to be better alerts. Knowing this, maybe you will stop bringing your shoes closer to these brushes to try, in vain, to clean them.