Escalators can be deadly

As if I didn't have enough to worry about. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, probably my favorite government agency, sent an email today, warning people about the dangers of escalators.

Granted, this news may not at first glance seem like it has anything to do with a personal finance blog, but plenty of businesspeople use escalators. You may be preparing to use one later today, when going up to see your financial adviser on the fifth floor of a building downtown. And like my recent elevator post, perhaps I should suggest investing in an escalator company. There are at least three that I'm aware of: the Escalator Company, Star Elevator and Escalator Company, and Detroit Escalator Company, or I thought that last one was one, until I logged onto a web site and discovered it's the name of a musician who calls himself the Detroit Escalator Company.

Anyway, if the musician wanted to start his own company, he'd have plenty of work. Each year, according to the CPSC, 90 billion riders use an escalator.

And while most people go up and down without a problem, the CPSC estimates that last year, there were approximately 11,000 escalator related injuries.

And, you know, at first, I was going to really send this up, and make fun of this plight, because it seemed silly and so random, but then I started Googling and found all sorts of scary things.