What’s up with the lifts in HDB blocks malfunctioning these days? On Tuesday, a 59-year-old woman suffered a spine fracture after the lift at Block 150 Petir Road did not work as per usual. The doors didn’t open at the ground floor as they should — instead, the lift sped up to the 11th floor, then down to the 3rd floor, before zooming up again and then braking abruptly between the 12th and 13th floors, flinging the lady to the floor.
Madam Yeo, who was stuck in the confined space for 30 minutes before being rescued, said it felt like an earthquake when the lift suddenly stopped. In fear, she grabbed the rails tightly, but still fell when the lift braked. As a result, she suffered a compression fracture to her lumbar vertebrae and was warded at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital — doctors said recovery would take six weeks.
According to TODAY, the Building and Construction Authority has suspended the lift’s operations for investigations and will check other lifts in the area. The Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council will also appoint an independent authorised examiner to scout out the problem, and will offer assistance to Madam Yeo.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a lift malfunction has happened. It’s actually the fifth lift-related accident in eight months — the most recent one being an elderly man who died after he fell and hit his head when he reversed his mobility scooter out of a lift that stopped 15cm above the ground.
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