Tabletop toe jam responsibility sought
- Source: Global Times
- [08:45 July 16 2010]
- Comments
By Zhou Ping
A family is demanding that the property company managing their residential complex pay them 20,000 yuan ($2,950) medical fees after their three-year-old daughter's toe was crushed by a stone tabletop.
The girl, Xiayang Yuyue, was injured as she played near one of the outdoor stone tables in the Lianchengxinyuan residential compound in Pudong New Area last Thursday, Shanghai Morning Post reported Thursday. The tabletop split into three pieces and fell, crushing the girl's big toe.
Xiayang underwent minor surgery at Xinhua Hospital that evening, and the following Monday. She returned home Thursday morning.
"She might have permanent difficulty walking," Xia Fei, the father of Xiayang, told the Global Times Thursday. "The property management company should take responsibility. They should check the community facilities regularly to prevent this kind of accident.
"As it's the summer vacation now, there're more kids playing in public areas. If the facilities are not well checked and maintained, a similar tragedy might happen again," he added.
Xia said that, when asked, the property management company, Shanghai Lujiazui Property Management Company, said they could not show him the maintenance records for the table. The company told him it was considering the family's medical expense claim.
Xia added that, when workers were removing the tables the day following the accident, the tabletops came loose easily.
According to Shanghai Lujiazui Property Management Company, they should not be the sole party to take responsibility.
"Since the accident happened in a public area under our management, we can't evade responsibility, but I think the stone table manufacturer and the family should also share it. The division of responsibilities should be decided after an independent party makes an examination of the stone table itself," Gu Zhenquan, the deputy director of the company's administrative office, told the Global Times.
"We discovered after the accident that the three parts of the stone were joined together using silicone gel, which will come loose as time passes," Gu said. "We removed all the stone tables and stools the day after the accident and have required that all our property management divisions inspect the facilities in their residential compounds," Gu added.
He said the property management company inspects the facilities in Lianchengxinyuan once a week, although he would not give specific details.
"If the management company spotted the problem before the accident but gave no warning to the residents, the company has to take part of the responsibility," Niu Fangxing, a lawyer from Shanghai Lebang Law Firm, told the Global Times Thursday. "Of course the guardians have to take part of the responsibility too."
