Fallen marble slab was one of hundreds at risk

Engineers inspect the tiles on First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto on Thursday, May 17, 2007.

Just days after a marble slab crashed 60 floors from a downtown Toronto office tower, reports now say that it was just one of hundreds identified at risk during a recent inspection. The building's owners have now been ordered to inspect all 74,000 of the building's tiles.

King Street, between York and Bay streets, remained closed Thursday around the area of the 72-storey First Canadian Place skyscraper.

Toronto Police Staff Sgt. Jay Frosch told CTV.ca that King Street, a main artery in the heart of the city's financial district, will remain closed indefinitely.

Police on the scene directed traffic and pedestrians around the closed-off area. Sergeant Peter Harmsen said that people are dealing well with the inconvenience.

"They seem to understand, I mean everybody would like to go the route they would normally go because it's their set pattern but they seem to understand why we're here," Harmsen said.

Pedestrians and motorists may be diverted around the area for several days while authorities assess the situation.

Officials still have not determined why the 140-kilogram marble chunk fell from the southwest corner of the 54th floor to the roof of the building's three-storey podium on Tuesday.

The City of Toronto issued a work order against First Canadian Place on Wednesday to remedy the unsafe situation on Canada's tallest skyscraper.

Building owners are responsible for ensuring the safety of their buildings.

Wednesday's high winds initially prevented work crews from scaling the exterior of the building, but engineers were later able to reach the area to assess the damage.

Using a suspended platform, they slowly moved down the face of the building inspecting the marble tiles, with a few at the ready for any that needed immediate replacement.

Representatives of the building's owners, Brookfield Properties, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

City officials say the building has been continuously inspected by the owners.

"Inspections have been on-going on that building by way of the property owners and their professional engineers and contractors," Jim Laughlin of the City of Toronto said. "So the city has never inspected those panels."

"It's not my place to say anything should be replaced," Laughlin added. "This is a building technique that is acceptable, it's approved."

A tile replacement program was ongoing when First Canadian Place was sold 18 months ago. Tiles are inspected every six months and replaced as required, a spokesperson for property owner Brookfield Properties said Wednesday.

With reports from CTV's John Musselman and Galit Solomon