3 hurt after hoarding board at Jurong Point collapses

A hoarding board outside a Jurong Point department store unit that was under renovation fell on Thursday evening, injuring three passers-by.

The authorities are investigating the incident, which happened in front of the third-floor unit leased by department store BHG.

A spokesman for Jurong Point mall said the incident happened at about 5.50pm.

"Jurong Point's operations and security teams responded immediately to render assistance to the injured shoppers," the spokesman said yesterday in response to queries by The Straits Times.

According to Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News, the wooden hoarding board had a metal frame.

A police spokesman said a 34-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman were conscious when taken to hospital.

They were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, according to a Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman.

The third person was assessed for minor injuries and did not want to be taken to hospital.

Police investigations are ongoing.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower said it was also investigating the workplace accident, adding that the two people who were hospitalised were discharged the next day. The ministry has instructed the mall operator to conduct thorough checks to ensure all hoarding boards in the mall are installed properly.

When ST visited the mall yesterday, the front of the unit was covered with a grey sheet and a barricade.

A man working opposite the affected unit told ST that he heard a loud sound on Thursday.

He said: "I saw the middle of the board give way first... It fell on a man who was standing at the nearby railing using his phone."

He added that though parts of the board fell directly on the man, the injuries he suffered did not appear to be severe.

A spokesman for BHG said contractors had put up the board to facilitate reinstatement works that were being carried out.