A popular water feature in Baring Square East has had a $7000 health and safety upgrade after two accidents.
District council group manager infrastructure Neil McCann confirmed to The Ashburton Courier the water feature’s floating pavers recently had metal installed between them.
The floating pavers are along two opposite sides of a fountain pool in front of the Ashburton town clock.
‘‘We’ve installed angle iron between and at the edges of the floating pavers,” McCann explained.
‘‘The installation is to address a safety risk, which will prevent further injury to users of the area immediately near the fountains.’’
There had been two recent incidents.
A person in a wheelchair travelled over the pavers and became stuck in one of the gaps, and a person walking on the floating pavers tripped and fell through a gap between the slabs.
One of the reasons the angle iron was chosen was because it did not ruin the attractiveness of the water feature.
‘‘The safety of the public is paramount, and the particular design was intended to address the risk in the most cost-effective way, whilst not being too visually obtrusive,’’ McCann said.
