Close shave for pedestrians and vehicles as metal beams fall from crane at Balestier Rd

Chew Hui Min
The Straits Times
Apr 6, 2017

Five metal beams fell from a tower crane onto Balestier Road on Wednesday (April 5), narrowly missing pedestrians and vehicles.

The bundle of five metal channels fell from a crane at the worksite for condominium Viio@Balestier onto Balestier Road at about 5pm.

The bars, each about 6m long, slipped from the lifting gear and fell, the Ministry of Manpower said. No injuries were reported.

Four of the beams fell more than 10 storeys, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

One fell into a drain near a pedestrian walkway, right behind a man and a woman, a witness told the Chinese evening daily.

The man and woman were so shocked they did not move for some moments, according to the witness.

Four beams fell about 10m in front of a traffic light, where vehicles were starting to move as the light turned green, he said.

"The bus was nearly hit," he told Wanbao.

The beams also made a few holes in the road and a metal barrier by the drain was damaged, the report said.

They blocked two road lanes and were later moved away by workers from the construction site.

The project contractor Techkon Commercial told The Straits Times that the incident is being investigated.

"The initial conclusion is that it was an unexpected accident. However, we are proposing to review the hoisting procedure to prevent similar incidents from happening," said a spokesman for Techkon.

MOM said Techkon has been instructed to stop all lifting operations.

In another incident on April 1, two decorative aluminum bars  on the facade of a Housing Board block at Indus Road fell but no one was injured.

The incident left a hole in the roof of a pavilion on the ground floor.