<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Man stuck in stairwell for over an hour
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A sales promoter was trapped in a staircase for more than an hour yesterday.
Mr William Chan, 48, found himself locked in at the staircase on the first level between HarbourFront Centre and VivoCity.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Risk for children and the elderly
'The management said it was an emergency exit. If it is not an authorised route, then it shouldn't be open. What if a child or an old man with heart problems was trapped there?'
MR ANDREW SOH, whose employee was trapped in a stairwell for more than an hour yesterday
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He works at the Royal Doulton home fragrance counter at Tangs VivoCity and was on his way to work.
At around 10.35am, he used the staircase at HarbourFront, thinking that it led to a staff entrance in VivoCity.
He went through a series of doors and found that the exit door was locked.
However, when he tried to turn back, the door where he had came through was also locked.
'My first thought was to call my boss as I do not have the contacts of the relevant authorities,' said Mr Chan.
His boss Andrew Soh, 36, director of Accendo, called Tangs, which responded by calling maintenance staff and security personnel from HarbourFront and VivoCity.
Mr Soh, who also went down to HarbourFront, said the HarbourFront guard was uncertain of whether the staircase belonged to HarbourFront or VivoCity.
According to Ms Shae Hung Yee, vice-president of corporate communications at Mapletree Investments, security was alerted at around 11.45am.
Mapletree is the landlord and manages both HarbourFront and VivoCity.
'There was initial confusion as the caller was not sure which escape staircase - whether VivoCity or HarbourFront Centre - the man was in. Our security had to spend some time trying to verify the location,' she said.
What irked Mr Soh was that the guard did not want to unlock the door leading to the staircase.
'He wanted to be absolutely sure that there was a man in there,' he said.
The guard finally relented and opened the doors leading to the three different escape staircases.
They found Mr Chan at one of the staircases at 12.10pm.
Mapletree is unsure how he managed to use the staircase as it is secured by electromagnetic locks that are unlocked automatically only in an emergency.
'Meanwhile, we will put all the necessary measures in place to prevent future similar occurrences,' said Ms Shae.
Huang Huifen
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A sales promoter was trapped in a staircase for more than an hour yesterday.
Mr William Chan, 48, found himself locked in at the staircase on the first level between HarbourFront Centre and VivoCity.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Risk for children and the elderly
'The management said it was an emergency exit. If it is not an authorised route, then it shouldn't be open. What if a child or an old man with heart problems was trapped there?'
MR ANDREW SOH, whose employee was trapped in a stairwell for more than an hour yesterday
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He works at the Royal Doulton home fragrance counter at Tangs VivoCity and was on his way to work.
At around 10.35am, he used the staircase at HarbourFront, thinking that it led to a staff entrance in VivoCity.
He went through a series of doors and found that the exit door was locked.
However, when he tried to turn back, the door where he had came through was also locked.
'My first thought was to call my boss as I do not have the contacts of the relevant authorities,' said Mr Chan.
His boss Andrew Soh, 36, director of Accendo, called Tangs, which responded by calling maintenance staff and security personnel from HarbourFront and VivoCity.
Mr Soh, who also went down to HarbourFront, said the HarbourFront guard was uncertain of whether the staircase belonged to HarbourFront or VivoCity.
According to Ms Shae Hung Yee, vice-president of corporate communications at Mapletree Investments, security was alerted at around 11.45am.
Mapletree is the landlord and manages both HarbourFront and VivoCity.
'There was initial confusion as the caller was not sure which escape staircase - whether VivoCity or HarbourFront Centre - the man was in. Our security had to spend some time trying to verify the location,' she said.
What irked Mr Soh was that the guard did not want to unlock the door leading to the staircase.
'He wanted to be absolutely sure that there was a man in there,' he said.
The guard finally relented and opened the doors leading to the three different escape staircases.
They found Mr Chan at one of the staircases at 12.10pm.
Mapletree is unsure how he managed to use the staircase as it is secured by electromagnetic locks that are unlocked automatically only in an emergency.
'Meanwhile, we will put all the necessary measures in place to prevent future similar occurrences,' said Ms Shae.
Huang Huifen
