EM Services responsible for maintaining lift involved in spine-injury incident

By: 永久浪客/Forever Vagabond
It was reported in this week that a lift malfunctioned at Block 150 Petir Road in Bukit Panjang, injuring a 59-year-old woman (https://theindependent.sg.sg/59-year-old-cleaner-fractured-spine-in-another-malfunctioning-lift-accident).
She was taking the lift from the ninth floor to the ground floor on the day of the incident. When the lift reached the ground floor, it suddenly sprang up to the eleventh, and then down to the third, before shooting back-up to the twelfth. The momentum of the extreme movement of the lift fractured the woman’s spine.
The woman’s daughter told the media, “The impact was strong and my mum grabbed the railing but still fractured her spine. And when rescuers came, the gap between the lift and the floor made it hard to rescue my mum.”
Later, Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council (HBPTC) whose chairman is PAP MP Teo Ho Pin, issued a statement saying that it had suspended the operation of the lift at Block 150 Petir Road. It also said that it had appointed an examiner to conduct an investigation over the incident.
Last month, a wheelchair bound 77-year-old man died in yet another malfunctioned lift accident in Pasir Ris (https://theindependent.sg.sg/wheelchair-bound-77-year-old-dies-in-malfunctioning-lift-accident-in-pasir-ris). Due to the misalignment of the lift, the elderly man fell backwards and broke his skull when he tried to reverse his wheelchair out from the lift. The lift’s flooring was not aligned to the ground outside when the lift door opened.
Pasir Ris Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) said that it is investigating the incident and that they are checking the lift’s past maintenance records.
HBPTC and PRPTC managed by EM Services
It turns out that the 2 estates are currently being managed by EM Services (http://www.emservices.com.sg/em/town-management.aspx). EM Services is a joint venture between the HDB and Keppel Land. On its website, it said (http://www.emservices.com.sg/em/about-us.aspx), “We pride ourselves as a leader in the property management services field.”
On its website, EM Services also said that they are the sole agent for the sale and installation of Chinese brand lifts, Shenyang Brilliant Elevators (http://www.emservices.com.sg/em/engineering-contracting-services.aspx).
It’s not known if the malfunctioned lifts in the above 2 incidents came from Shenyang Brilliant Elevators but some netizens have reported interesting story about the elevator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJeH7wh-bxg
[fvplayer src=”http://youtube.com/watch?v=hJeH7wh-bxg”]
In any case, EM Services stated on its website that they were awarded the 7th, 10th and 19th term contract for the HDB Lift Upgrading Projects (LUP) comprising of 2,200 lifts. Presumably, since they are the sole agent for Shenyang Brilliant Elevators, they would be installing the Chinese lifts in the HDB LUP contracts they have clinched.
The logo of Shenyang Brilliant Elevators would not be seen in these elevators for the LUP programme. Instead, EM logo will be used.