An outlet box appears to be the cause for the leg of a student’s chair to fall through the floor back on September 11. According to Richard Dries, Director of Operations, there was an old outlet box in the floor in Room C252 that gave away when “the right load was put on the outlet box.” This caused pressure on the box, which then allowed the leg of a student’s chair to fall through. An inch either way and this wouldn’t have happened, Dries added.

In that particular room, maintence personnel were able to access the floor deck and identify other floor outlets and brace those up, Dreis stated. The floor was then reattached and the room was reopened.

“To the extent that we could access those areas, we did examine nearby and adjoining spaces,” Dries said, “but we did not find others to be in the same condition.”

Some of the area was inaccessible from below, according to Dries. “If we can’t get to the floor from below, it’s unlikely anyone else accessed it either,” he stated. The contractor would have needed access from below in order to put in the outlets, Dries added.

Dries said that it was hard to determine when the outlets were put in. However, he added, “Currently, we have no reason to lead us to believe this will occur again.”

Concerning the rest of the building, Dries stated, “Currently, there are no other similar situations that we believe pose a risk.