Lamp post corrosion: Three experts split
The Straits Times Tuesday, 8 June 2004

A THIRD expert witness, testifying in a coroner"s inquiry into the death of a teenager hit by a falling lamp post, has added to the array of opinions over which part of the post was most severely corroded.
Associate Professor Qiu Jianhai, 41, a corrosion expert from the Nanyang Technological University"s School of Materials Engineering, said corrosion occurred exactly at the ground level.
Earlier in the inquiry, two expert witnesses had been divided on whether the lamp post was corroded above or below ground level. This is central to the issue of whether a person doing a visual check of the lamp post could have seen the rusted area and taken action that might have prevented the fatal incident.
On Feb 28 last year, secondary school student Tay Wei Yi, 13, was playing volleyball at a Tampines basketball court when the lamp post fell and hit him on the head. A senior property officer with Tampines Town Council"s managing agent had visually checked the lamp post three weeks before the incident but had not noticed any defects.
Dr Qiu said the most severe corrosion took place not above or below ground, but just at ground level. The "junction" between the atmosphere and the soil would be the most severely corroded because of the "wetting and drying" process due to collected rainwater, he said.