The help straps on a utility field that fell from a column and struck a lady at a Red Line station Monday have been corroded, an MBTA spokesperson stated.
This security failure prompted a direct investigation of all MBTA stations, the place inspectors seemed into the situation of comparable gear, spokesman Joe Pesaturo stated.
“Immediately following last night’s incident, the area surrounding the box was cordoned off and an inspection was performed,” Pesaturo stated in a Tuesday electronic mail. “Subsequently the utility field was safely eliminated.
“It was determined that the cause of the incident was due to corrosion on the support straps that secured the box to the column.”
This incident, which despatched a lady to the hospital with minor accidents, occurred simply two months after a 25-pound water-logged ceiling tile fell on the identical station, Harvard in Cambridge, practically putting a rider strolling by the realm.
MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng visited Harvard station on Monday night, and “directed that every station be immediately inspected for the presence of these boxes and the condition of the support straps to ensure that they do not pose a hazard,” Pesaturo stated.
Inspections are anticipated to be accomplished on Tuesday. As of this morning, the Red and Orange Line had been absolutely inspected, and probes of the Blue and Green Lines have been ongoing, Pesaturo stated.
“At this point, it was an isolated case,” he stated of the utility field corrosion. “While the inspections will continue today on the Blue and Green Lines, it is believed the boxes are present only on the Red Line.”
Eng reached out to the lady, who was standing on the platform when she was struck by the falling gear, Pesaturo stated.
The rider was hit by a supporting brace, after the utility field hooked up to the column slid to the underside of the construction, he stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
