If you’ve ever stepped onto a moving walkway at an airport, mall, or train station, you know the split-second panic that hits when your feet slip a little mid-move. As a moving walkway supplier, I’ve spent the last 12 years of my career not just building these systems, but troubleshooting the little, preventable mistakes that turn a routine ride into a safety scare. Slips and falls on moving walkways don’t have to be an inevitable part of using them—but to stop them, you have to understand what actually causes them, not just post generic “hold the handrail” signs. Let’s break this down, straight from the guy who designs and services these machines for transit hubs across North America. Moving Walkway
First, let’s get one myth out of the way: most people think slips on moving walkways are just user error, like someone scrolling their phone and not paying attention. Yeah, that’s a factor, but it’s rarely the whole story. Over the years, I’ve pulled incident reports from 40+ locations we supply, and the leading causes aren’t distracted walkers—they’re small, avoidable design gaps, maintenance oversights, and even environmental factors that most operators and users miss. Let’s start with the user-facing actions that can keep you safe, then move to the supplier and maintenance side, because that’s where we as industry players have the most control.
When a customer calls me up saying they slipped on one of our walkways, the first thing I ask is: were they wearing the right shoes? I know it sounds silly, but slip resistance starts with footwear, and most people don’t adjust for a moving surface like they would for a regular floor. Rubber-soled sneakers are great for pavement, but they can be too soft to grip a walkway’s surface when it’s wet or slightly dirty. High heels with narrow stiletto tips? Those don’t spread weight evenly, so they catch on the grooved walkway panels way easier than a flat, wide heel. Even work boots with deep, aggressive lugs—great for hiking—can get stuck in the small gaps between walkway sections, causing a stumble. That’s why when we train operators to post safety tips, we don’t just say “hold the handrail”—we add a line about adjusting footwear for the surface. It might sound obvious, but you’d be shocked how many people show up to a busy airport in platform heels and wonder why they slid.
Another user mistake that we see all the time: not centering your feet when you step on. Walkways move at a steady 0.5 to 1 meter per second, which is fast enough that if you step onto the edge of the belt, one foot is moving forward and the other is still on the static floor outside. That tiny speed difference throws your balance off. The same goes for when you’re stepping off—if you shift too far forward or too back before the exit, you can catch your heel or toe on the edge of the transition plate. We had an incident last year at a mid-sized train station where a tourist stepped onto our walkway with one foot ahead of the other, didn’t hold the rail, and tripped. The operator thought it was just bad luck, but when I showed up to inspect, I noticed the transition plate was marked with a tiny yellow line we recommend, but no one at the station had repainted it in two years. That’s the next big point: how suppliers and operators can design and maintain these systems to prevent slips before they happen.
As a moving walkway supplier, the first thing we design into every system is the walkway belt and surface material, and this is where most competitors cut corners that lead to slip issues. We use a proprietary blend of polyurethane for our walking surfaces, tested to meet OSHA’s coefficient of friction (COF) standards of 0.5 or higher for dry surfaces, and 0.8 or higher for wet surfaces. Cheaper belts use vinyl that gets slippery when it’s even slightly damp—like when someone spills a coffee or rain gets tracked in from outside. The grooving pattern on our belts isn’t random, either. We use a 3mm cross-groove pattern, meaning the grooves run perpendicular to the direction of the walkway’s movement. That might sound backwards, but it’s actually better for preventing slips: if you step on a wet spot, the cross-grooves channel water away from your feet, instead of letting it pool between your foot and the belt. Competitors that use longitudinal grooves (running with the direction of the walkway) end up with water pooling in the grooves, turning a small wet spot into a slipping hazard.
Then there’s the maintenance side, which is where even the best-designed walkways can become a risk if they’re ignored. A common mistake operators make is only cleaning the surface of the walkway, not the side panels, kick plates, and the handrail tracks. Dust, gum, food crumbs, and small debris get pushed into the gaps between the belt and the side structures, and over time, that debris can build up and create uneven spots on the belt. I’ve seen walkways where the belt had a 1mm high spot in the middle, just from a month of unremoved crumbs, that caused dozens of small stumbles. We provide our clients with a monthly maintenance checklist that goes beyond “wipe down the belt”: we ask them to check the COF of the belt quarterly, clear debris from the side gaps every two weeks, and lubricate the handrail track every six months. A lot of operators skip these steps to save time, but the $100 worth of lubricant we recommend costs a fraction of the lawsuit and reputational hit from a slip and fall incident.
Environmental factors are another piece of the puzzle that we as suppliers help our clients prepare for. For locations that are open-air, like outdoor malls or train stations with unshielded entrances, rain and snow are constant slip risks. We install heated transition plates on all our outdoor walkways, which melt small amounts of snow and ice before it gets onto the main belt. We also add side skirts that extend 5cm below the walkway’s surface to stop rain from being splashed up onto the belt by passing people. For indoor locations like airport baggage claim areas, where people track in melted ice and coffee spills are common, we provide free absorbent mats for the immediate entry and exit points, and we recommend that operators post small signs reminding people to wipe their feet before stepping on. We even did a trial at a major international airport last year where we installed humidity sensors on 12 of our walkways. When the sensor detects high humidity (above 70%, which makes the belt slippery even without water), it triggers a gentle, automatic cleaning cycle that sprays a tiny amount of non-toxic, slip-resistant solution on the belt. The number of minor slips at that location dropped by 68% in six months—proof that small, smart design choices make a huge difference.
Wait, but what about the handrail? That’s the most iconic part of a moving walkway safety, and it’s still one of the most underused. I see people every day stepping onto a walkway, pulling out their phone, and ignoring the handrail entirely. The handrail doesn’t just support you if you lose your balance—it moves at the exact same speed as the walkway belt, so it acts as a counterbalance for your upper body. If you’re not holding it, your core has to work twice as hard to stay upright on a moving surface, which makes slips more likely. We actually design our handrails with a textured grip that gets slightly rougher when it’s wet, so even if your hands are a little sweaty, you won’t slip. But here’s a tip most people don’t know: if you’re traveling with a suitcase or a stroller, don’t hold the handle of your luggage and the handrail at the same time. The suitcase can pull you off balance, but if you hold the handrail with one hand, you can steer the suitcase with the other.
I’ll be honest, though—even with all the design, maintenance, and user tips, slips still happen sometimes. The key is minimizing them, not eliminating them, and that’s what our team focuses on every day. Last month, I was at a hospital where one of our walkways had a spill from a patient’s water bottle. The staff noticed it within 90 seconds, mopped it up, and the walkway’s cross-grooves had already prevented anyone from slipping during that window. That’s the balance: combining smart design, proactive maintenance, and simple user awareness to turn moving walkways from a source of stress into a safe, convenient part of travel.
If you’re a facility manager, transit operator, or mall owner reading this, and you’re looking to upgrade your moving walkways or reduce slip incidents on your current ones, we can help. We offer on-site safety audits, custom belt and surface upgrades, and maintenance plans tailored to your location’s specific risks. No one wants their patrons or employees to get hurt on a system that’s supposed to make their day easier. Reach out to us to learn more about how we can work with you to keep your moving walkways safe for everyone.
Hospital Elevator References
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (2023). Walkway Surfaces and Slip Resistance Standards for Walking-Working Surfaces. U.S. Department of Labor.
- National Elevator Industry, Inc. (NEII). (2022). Moving Walkway Safety Guidelines and Incident Data Analysis. NEII Technical Report.
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (2021). ISO 14801: Safety of Moving Walkways for Public Use. ISO Standards for Transport Equipment.
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