Make malls safe for children
The Star Online, 06 April 2015
Concerned: Lee stressing on the importance for shopping malls to adopt higher safety standards.
PETALING JAYA: Shopping malls must adopt higher safety standards to avoid a repeat of tragedies like the recent escalator-related death of a six-year-old, says the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
NIOSH chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said in addition to being a public place, malls were also a workplace and should therefore adopt standards like those laid out by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health for factories and offices.
“Local authorities should require shopping malls to review safety measures for their escalators, or such accidents will occur again,” said Lee, referring to Nurhayada Sofia Musa, who died on Friday after falling several floors through a gap at an escalator on the second floor of Kenanga Wholesale City Mall in Pudu.
In the accident caught on video, Nurhayada was seen playing near the escalator with her sister and her mother next to her.
However, while the mother was distracted on the phone, the child climbed over the banister and slipped through the gap between the balustrade and escalator.
“It appears the gap between the balustrade and the escalator was too wide, allowing the child to fall through it.
That should not be the case,” said Lee.
Malaysia Shopping Malls Association adviser H.C. Chan echoed Lee’s sentiments.
“Mall architects and designers need to consider safety ahead of aesthetics, and remember that a mall needs to be safe for all, not just adults,” Chan said.
MHe reiterated that the responsibility did not fall solely on the mall as it was a parent’s duty to keep an eye on their children.
Nurhayada Sofia’s mother drew the ire of Malaysians after CCTV footage of her fiddling with her phone, shortly before her daughter fell, went viral on social media.
However, police classified the incident as sudden death and asked the public to refrain from speculating on the matter.
Police are also investigation the possibility of negligence on the part of Nurhayada’s mother.