Children, especially those that are younger, may land themselves in trouble if left unsupervised, even for a few seconds.
Unfortunately, that was the case for a 5-year-old girl who had her index finger mangled by a hand dryer in ION Orchard.
The young girl had allegedly placed her hand into the cubby hole in the hand dryer and within seconds, lost half of her index finger after getting cut by the fan’s blade.
ION Orchard is currently investigating the incident and expressed regret over the unfortunate case.
Shared in a lengthy Facebook post on 10 Dec, Mr Chia shared his daughter’s troubling accident with a hand dryer in ION Orchard.
As the story goes, his family helper had brought his daughter to the female toilet to do their business.
After the daughter finished washing her hands, the helper proceeded to wash hers. The daughter then walked towards the hand dryers located next to the sink basin.
Not only were the dryers not covered, but there were apparently no indications that the machines were under maintenance.
Seeing this, the young girl proceeded to place her hand under the hand dryer as she normally would.
However, from her point of view, the uncovered vent may appear like a hand dryer that requires her to place her hand into the hole to function.
Regrettably, she followed through with that line of thought and within seconds, the fan blades in the dryer mangled her index finger.
In the post, Mr Chia recounts the traumatic experience of having to pick up his daughter’s shattered bones in hopes of salvaging her finger.
After the horrifying incident, staff members from ION Orchard arrived on the scene to tend to the matter.
However, the staff were apparently unable to find the right keys to the cabinet that housed the hand dryer.
After several attempts, they found the right key but struggled to pry open the cabinet.
Mr Chia shared that the overall conduct of the staff members gave him the impression that there was “no form of care or orderly maintenance” for the equipment.
Mr Chia also describes the incident as one that “no parent or child should ever go through with”.
He ends the post by wishing for a day when technology will advance to a point where his daughter will be able to own a functional prosthetic finger.
In response to MS News, an ION Orchard spokesperson said the mall is currently investigating the cause and “sincerely regret to learn of the incident”.
After learning of the incident on Monday (6 Dec), a “team” was sent down to assist the girl.
For precautionary reasons, the mall had also performed checks on all the hand driers at the mall to ensure they’re safe to use.
ION Orchard is also in touch with the girl’s family to provide the necessary support.
Here’s their statement in full:
A girl injured her finger while using the hand dryer in a restroom in ION Orchard on December 6, 2021. Upon discovering the incident, our team rendered immediate assistance to the girl.
We sincerely regret to learn of the incident and are currently investigating the cause. As an added precautionary measure, we have checked all the hand driers in ION Orchard to ensure their safety.
We will continue to be in touch with her family to render the necessary support.
One can only imagine the pain and trauma the girl must’ve gone through as a result of the incident.
We hope ION Orchard, as well as other malls in Singapore, will put in place measures to prevent such horrific incidents from happening in the future.
In the meantime, we hope she recovers swiftly and will receive fair compensation for the injury.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook & Facebook.
Investigations into the incident are still ongoing.
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