Dislodged Tampines sunshade sent to lab for tests

SINGAPORE — Urging the public not to speculate about the cause of the sunbreaker that became dislodged at Block 201E, Tampines Street 23 on Sunday (Sept 25), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said Friday (Sept 30) that the sunshade was sent to a laboratory for investigations on the very same night.

The HDB has also begun deploying ultrasound scanning equipment to check all the sunshades at the affected block. The scanner is used to transmit magnetic waves into the concrete to detect the presence of any reinforcement bars within the sunshades.

The scans at Blk 201E are expected to be completed within a week, and more scans will be carried out progressively on three neighbouring blocks — 201A, 201B and 201D — which have similar sunshades.

The scans will enable investigators to “assess the condition of each sunshade, including the presence of reinforcement bars embedded within the sunshades, as this is one of the areas of our investigation”, said the HDB.

“To get a complete and accurate picture of the cause behind the incident, we need both the laboratory investigation and site checks to run their full-course … Pending the outcome of the investigation, we urge the public not to speculate about the cause of the incident, and seek the patience and understanding of our residents,” it added.

In response to TODAY’s queries, the HDB said the one area of investigation would be whether the reinforcement bars on the dislodged sunshade at Block 201E “were properly put in place”.

On Sunday morning, the concrete sunshade on the fourth floor of Block 201E got dislodged, and ended up resting on the sunshade on the third floor. No injuries were reported. 

HDB engineers inspected the block on Sunday evening, and found it to be structurally safe.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to Block 201E on Friday, Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC Cheng Li Hui said: “Since Sunday’s incident, we’ve been working quite closely with the authorities … (We want) to reassure the residents as their safety is of utmost importance to us.” 

With safety barricades placed in front of about five shops on the ground floor of Block 201E, staff at Hockhua Tonic, which sells Chinese medicine and health supplements, told TODAY that they had seen about a 50 per cent drop in sales, with customers avoiding the area because of safety concerns.