SINGAPORE — Investigations into a lift accident, where a ceiling panel fell on a 10-year-old girl’s foot, revealed that the plastic board might not have been secured properly.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said in a statement on Thursday night (June 8) that “the ceiling parts were improperly secured to their support frame”, and it has issued a notice to suspend the operation of the lift.

On Wednesday at around 1pm, Chung Yan Ting was in the lift with her family at Block 325A, Sengkang East Way, when the plastic panel collapsed and hit her.

She was sent to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and needed five stitches on her foot.

The Ang Mo Kio Town Council, which is responsible for the upkeep of the estate, told TODAY: “For the safety of residents, Lift B will be shut for maintenance and (operations will) resume only after it has been certified to be in safe working condition by BCA for daily use.”

BCA has ordered the lift contractor to assess and recommend repairs, and inspect the lift after the repairs.

It added: “Our engineers also inspected the other lifts in the same block, as well as four other lifts with similar design in the vicinity. We have reminded the lift owner to ensure that the parts in other lifts of similar design are properly secured.”

The lift contractor maintaining the LG elevators for the block is Sigma Elevator, a beleaguered company that has been banned from taking part in tenders for lift maintenance works since October 2015, because its newer lifts broke down more often than usual.

Responding to the latest incident, a Sigma Singapore representative said: “Our thoughts are with the injured girl ... We are working with the town council to gather more information as quickly as possible.”

Polytechnic lecturer Chung Koh Choon, 43, told TODAY that he would not pursue the matter further as the town council would be following up with an insurance company to reimburse his daughter’s medical costs, which came to about S$200.

On Thursday, he and his wife discovered a new bruise on the girl’s head and had to send her to a clinic for a check-up.

Mr Chung said that on the day of the accident, his wife thought something was amiss when she saw a long metal rod on the floor the moment she entered the lift with the family of four, but the light panel fell before they could react.