GIANT hypermarket's head of operations, Mr Mark Cox, said this was the first time such an accident had occurred.

It arose due to miscommunication between two trolley collectors - one stationed at the top of the travellator and the other at the bottom.

The one at the top had signalled that the trolley bay was full but the collector at the bottom missed his signal and continued to send trolleys up.

As a result, the trolleys caused a blockage on the travellator, said Mr Cox.

Said Mr Cox: 'We sincerely regret and apologise for this unfortunate accident.'

He said the trolley collector, security officer, department manager and several customers acted swiftly to move the trolleys away on seeing the blockage.

'Our staff rendered assistance to the customers who were hurt and called for an ambulance. Seven people had minor injuries and were sent to Changi General Hospital immediately where they were given outpatient treatment and were discharged on the same night.'

The hypermarket said it had taken preventive measures to avoid such accidents in future.

Said Mr Cox: 'We have re-emphasised to our contracted trolley collectors the importance of being extra vigilant while handling trolleys and have instructed them to check carefully before sending trolleys up the travellator.

'Meantime, we have also taken the extra precaution of stationing a security officer at the travellator to supervise such movement of trolleys.'

The travellator has in-built safety and automatic stop features.

Its skirt guard safety switch was activated to stop it, Mr Cox said.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 4, 2008.

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