A wheelchair-bound man and his support worker got "a hell of a fright" after being showered with falling glass fragments when a roof panel exploded inside Dunedin's Wall Street mall yesterday.
The Dunedin City Council is investigating the incident, which occurred about 11am when a 2m-long panel of safety glass in the roof suddenly shattered, sending fragments down two floors to the public atrium below.
Support worker Ed Bedford said he and his wheelchair-bound client - who has cerebral palsy - were underneath the panel when they heard a bang "like a bomb going off".
The glass fragments came down "like hailstones" and covered the pair, leaving them badly shaken but not injured, he said.
They had no idea what had happened, but "took off" outside to George St, he said.
"There was a hell of a bang, which was frightening. It sounded like a bomb going off, and [his client] and I were ... right underneath where the glass came down. We were like snowmen," Mr Bedford said.
"I had to get him out of it. He got a hell of a fright, and I got a fright too, I might tell you."
The falling material dented the roof and broke the rear window of a Mazda display vehicle which had been parked in the mall's atrium only hours earlier for promotional purposes.
Mr Bedford and his client were admiring the vehicle when the glass came down, he said.
Shop staff said mall workers were quick to move people away from the atrium and close the mall until an initial safety inspection was completed about noon.
After the mall was reopened, the atrium's public seating area and nearby Mojo Coffee outlet remained closed for the afternoon, cordoned off by orange cones, while a clean-up and full investigation began.
The $34 million multi-level shopping centre was developed by the council and opened in 2009.
Council city property manager Robert Clark said a "defective" inner panel in the mall's double-glazed glass roof had shattered and fallen in, possibly after expanding and contracting over time.
He was "absolutely" concerned people had been hit by the falling debris, but said the safety glass had acted as it was designed to by shattering, which helped prevent injury.
"Usually when a piece of glass of that nature ... breaks, it usually does make a fairly loud noise."
Council maintenance staff inspected the damage immediately after yesterday's incident and determined the rest of the glass was safe. They decided to reopen the mall, with some areas cordoned off.
Contractors involved in the mall's design and construction conducted a more thorough assessment yesterday afternoon and agreed it was safe for public use, he said.
He was "very confident" other glass panels were not at risk of similar failure, but glass specialists would check the roof again before the mall opened this morning, "just to be absolutely certain".
The damage bill was expected to be "minimal" at up to $3000 and would be treated as a council maintenance cost, he said.
Levis store manager Kala Seiuli said she heard a "massive smash" from inside her store and ran into the mall's atrium to find "glass everywhere".
She saw a wheelchair-bound man who had been caught "right under the glass" and was covered in debris being helped by staff from other stores.
Life Pharmacy beauty therapist Katrina Autridge said between "five and 10" people were in the atrium area when the "massive crash" occurred, followed by a "shower of glass" coming down.
"If someone had got hurt it would have been a bit scary. It could have been a lot worse," she said.
Mr Bedford said he bought a Lotto ticket to celebrate his escape.
'We were very, very lucky that we weren't seriously hurt."
