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http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_382452.html
Girl's fall due to human error
By Cheryl Ong
INADEQUATE checks led to an eight-year-old girl's fall through a gap in a metal railing at the lift landing outside her fourth-floor Telok Blangah flat, the committee that investigated the mishap concluded.
The error stemmed from failure to detect the corroded railing, which had a towel draped over it.
Siti Nur Aini Mohamed was playing at the lift landing on March 8 this year, when she plunged four storeys.
The girl sustained multiple fractures and was warded in the intensive care unit at National University Hospital for two weeks after developing a blood clot in her brain.
Tanjong Pagar Town Council chairman Koo Tsai Kee formed an independent inquiry committee on March 18 to find out the cause of the incident.
The committee comprised architect Johnny Tan Cheng Hye as chairman of the group, as well as lawyer K. Anparasan and engineer Teh Hee Seang.
'We are of the view that the unfortunate incident is a one-off,' said Mr Tan at a press conference on Wednesday. 'The problem occurred due to human error.'
The 60-day inquiry found that while the Tanjong Pagar Town Council's Residents Feedback System was 'fairly comprehensive', the telephone operators were not trained to deal with complaints about building defects.
The committee was also unable to find conclusive evidence in the voice and phone logs from the town council feedback system that proved that residents had reported the damaged railing to the authorities prior to Siti's fall.
Earlier media reports quoted two residents, besides the girl's grandfather and uncle, saying they had made reports to the town council about the corroded railing, but they were not checked out.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
Girl's fall due to human error
By Cheryl Ong
INADEQUATE checks led to an eight-year-old girl's fall through a gap in a metal railing at the lift landing outside her fourth-floor Telok Blangah flat, the committee that investigated the mishap concluded.
The error stemmed from failure to detect the corroded railing, which had a towel draped over it.
Siti Nur Aini Mohamed was playing at the lift landing on March 8 this year, when she plunged four storeys.
The girl sustained multiple fractures and was warded in the intensive care unit at National University Hospital for two weeks after developing a blood clot in her brain.
Tanjong Pagar Town Council chairman Koo Tsai Kee formed an independent inquiry committee on March 18 to find out the cause of the incident.
The committee comprised architect Johnny Tan Cheng Hye as chairman of the group, as well as lawyer K. Anparasan and engineer Teh Hee Seang.
'We are of the view that the unfortunate incident is a one-off,' said Mr Tan at a press conference on Wednesday. 'The problem occurred due to human error.'
The 60-day inquiry found that while the Tanjong Pagar Town Council's Residents Feedback System was 'fairly comprehensive', the telephone operators were not trained to deal with complaints about building defects.
The committee was also unable to find conclusive evidence in the voice and phone logs from the town council feedback system that proved that residents had reported the damaged railing to the authorities prior to Siti's fall.
Earlier media reports quoted two residents, besides the girl's grandfather and uncle, saying they had made reports to the town council about the corroded railing, but they were not checked out.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
