THUNDER BAY — A city resident believes it's fortunate no one was hurt when a long piece of metal somehow broke loose from the facade and fell into a courtyard at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
The incident happened Tuesday at about 3:30 pm.
The man, who prefers not to be identified, told TBnewswatch he was inside the hospital by a window overlooking a courtyard on the hospital's east side when "a great big hunk" of U-shaped metal came down without warning.
"If somebody had been walking outside ... there would have been a fatality, because it came down that quick and that hard," he said."I was just rather shocked ... You don't expect that type of thing to happen that quickly."
The man estimates that the piece, which landed near a doorway just outside the cafeteria, was about nine metres long, 30 centimetres wide, and 10 centimetres deep.
In the aftermath of the incident, security staff were on the scene first, followed soon after by hospital maintenance personnel.
A hospital spokesperson said the piece that came loose and fell was attached to the metal facade above a window.
He said the local supplier is conducting a full inspection of the area and will remove remaining components "in support of a comprehensive condition review as they only serve an aesthetic purpose and have no functionality."
A complete visual review of other parts of the hospital with the same architectural elements has already been done to determine if there are any other risks.
The spokesperson said the area where the incident occurred has been blocked off, and there is currently no risk to patients, staff or visitors to the hospital.
This isn't the first time TBRHSC has experienced this kind of occurrence.
In September 2018, strong wind blew a large piece of metal flashing off the roof near the hospital's main entrance.
