CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials at the MBTA say it was the corrosion of support straps that likely caused a piece of equipment to fall at Harvard station Monday night, striking and injuring a woman on the platform.
The victim, described as a woman in her late 20s, suffered non-life-threatening injuries according to the Cambridge Fire Department, which was called in around 4:30 p.m. after the 200-pound piece of electrical equipment fell at the Red Line inbound platform.
A spokesperson for the MBTA said at the time that a utility box that was attached to a column “slid to [the] bottom of the column,” with a supporting brace making contact with the woman, who was nearby.
In an update on Tuesday morning, the T said the utility box had been safely removed and that officials determined the cause of the incident was “corrosion on the support straps that secured the box to the column.”
“General Manager Phil Eng personally visited the site and directed that every station be immediately inspected for the presence of these boxes and the condition of the support straps to ensure that they do not pose any hazard,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The inspections are complete on both the Red and Orange Lines and ongoing for the Blue and Green Lines. All inspections will be completed today.”
The MBTA stated the incident was an isolated case and that as inspections continue through Tuesday, officials believe the utility boxes are only present on the Red Line.
According to the spokesperson, MBTA GM Phil Eng also reached out to the woman injured on Monday.
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