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    "I don't remember selling to Japanese ski resorts": Chinese escalator manufacturer's president makes shocking statement. Supervisors are necessary in the accident at Otaru Ski Resort where a 5-year-old boy died
    Japan

    “I don’t remember selling to Japanese ski resorts”: Chinese escalator manufacturer’s president makes shocking statement. Supervisors are necessary in the accident at Otaru Ski Resort where a 5-year-old boy died


    According to the ski resort's management company, the escalator is designed to activate an emergency stop device and stop the belt if the exit cover opens or if something gets caught in the gap, but this did not activate in this accident.

    The ski resort also has a total of four similar escalators, and there have been several accidents in the past, including users falling down them, but there are no supervisor on duty at all times, and no one was there at the time of the accident.

    …

    The operating company explained that the escalator in question was made in China and installed six years ago in 2019.

    According to the president of the Chinese company which manufactures the escalator, in 2018, an interpreter from a certain company approached him with an offer to purchase a snow escalator in Japan, but he declined because there was no maintenance agency in Japan at the time.

    The following year, in 2019, the same person approached us and asked us to sell three units for use in China, so we sold them.

    Normally, the company would be in regular contact with the ski resort where it purchased the equipment regarding maintenance and other matters, but the company says it never received any contact from the ski resort where the accident occurred.

    https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/hbc/2384721?display=1

    View 7 Comments

    7 Comments

    1. MagazineKey4532 on

      So, the escalator wasn’t never maintained? Would like to see an interview with a person managing the ski resort about how the escalator was being maintained.

    3. random_agency on

      So the Japanese company cut corners and didn’t bother hiring the Chinese escalator manufacturer for an extended overseas maintenance contract.

      Not to mention understaffed their facilities.

    7. Available-Ad4982 on

      Global systems can be shared, but responsibility is always local. Origin doesn’t prevent harm, presence does.

      It’s strange how origin only seems to matter when something goes wrong. Japan is perfectly comfortable with global complexity the rest of the time. Take the modern PlayStation (PS4/PS5): it’s a Japanese platform, architected by an American lead engineer, built on American chip technology, and manufactured in China. No one finds that confusing. No one questions ownership or responsibility. That complexity is just normal infrastructure.