A grieving Windsor family wants to raise awareness about escalator safety after their father fell off an escalator at Detroit Metro Airport and died.
The family is calling for better signage to warn travellers not to use the escalators with luggage.
The family of 71-year-old Thomas Quigley tells CTV News he drove to the airport last September to pick up his wife.
He took her luggage and told her to wait in the terminal while he got the car.
“My father was on the escalator heading up and he fell while on the escalator and broke his neck,” says daughter Amy Facchineri.
“The injuries he sustained that day were catastrophic and he couldn't recover from them. He never regained consciousness.”
Tom Quigley died in hospital on September 5 last year.
“What happened to my father was a terrible tragedy and certainly we wouldn't want that to happen to anyone ever,” says Facchineri.
The family is petitioning the Detroit airport to put up more safety signage.
“We are not looking for the airport to ban people from taking luggage on escalators. We are asking them to bring attention to it. We are asking them to post signs that what highlight the potential risks…,” she says.
Airport officials say escalators are regulated by the State of Michigan.
“Safety has to come first before everything else and the attention to that safety is the responsibility of the airport,” says Facchineri.
According to the airport, the decals on their escalators urge passengers to hold the handrails, keep loose clothing and long skirts off escalator steps, attend to children and avoid the sides of the escalator.
In a statement to CTV News, the company writes:
“After reviewing best practices throughout the U.S. aviation industry, especially large hub airports like Detroit Metropolitan Airport, we confirmed prohibiting luggage on escalators is not standard practice. While we may modify our signs in the future, we don't have plans to add language prohibiting luggage. In our baggage claim areas, customers have the option to use elevators or escalators."
Facchineri says the family has hired a lawyer to push for a no-luggage sign at all escalators.