Clark, Perdue & List's Blog

It might surprise you to know that those seemingly harmless soft-soled clogs so popular with children and teens are capable of causing serious injury. Known as "Crocs," the name of the most popular brand, the shoes are made of soft, synthetic resin. Their best-selling features, flexibility and grip, apparently make them more prone to being caught in the teeth at the bottom of an escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of an escalator.

That is exactly what happened recently to a four-year old boy riding a mall escalator in Northern Virginia. While his mother managed to pull him free, his big toe nail was almost completely ripped off!

Through an subsequent Internet search on "Crocs and elevators," his mother found numerous stories about similar incidents. Reports of such injuries are evidently surfacing not only across the U.S., but as far away as Singapore and Japan.

Crocs, Inc., the Colorado-based manufacturer, has stated that it knows of "very few" accidents involving its shoes. But the Japanese government recently warned consumers that it had received as many as 39 reports of Crocs or similar products getting stuck in escalators in August and early September alone!

The more serious clog-escalator injuries have all involved young children. Children may be more prone to such accidents, because they have a tendency not to stand still or watch where they place their feet while riding an escalator. Experts say that the best way to prevent shoe entrapment while riding an escalator is to face in the direction that the stairs are moving, with feet away from the sides, and to step over the teeth at the bottom. For an interactive educational program about escalator safety, go to the Foundation's website at http://www.eesf.org/.