WATCH: Chicago’s Willis Tower SkyDeck cracks under visitors’ feet

Chicago, Illinois, USA - 2019: The view from the Willis Tower, a 110-story 1,450-foot (442.1 m) skyscraper in the downtown district.

Visitors to Chicago’s 100-storey-high Willis Tower SkyDeck have had the fright of their lives after the attraction’s protective layer “splintered into thousands of pieces”, according to reports.

The Willis Tower told CBS Chicago after the event on Monday local time that no one was in any danger, as the layer – which covers and protects the SkyDeck’s 680 kilogram glass panels– did what was intended.

Jesus Pintado, a Chicago-area resident, was there when the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere’s SkyDeck Ledge protective layer splintered, and he managed to capture it on video.

“There was a woman with two kids and they looked really pale and scared because the floor just cracked,” Pintado told CBS Chicago

Following the incident, the ledge is already back up and running, with Willis Tower advertising yoga on the SkyDeck for next week.

The SkyDeck Ledge attracts more than 1.7 million visitors each year.

According to Willis Tower’s company website, the SkyDeck Ledge’s glass box – installed by MTH Industries, the Chicago-based 120-year-old glass and architectural metal contractor that installed the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park – extends more than four feet from the SkyDeck on the 103rd floor of the building.

The Willis Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the Western Hemisphere at 1,450 feet and 110-storeys high, and is home to more than 100 companies including prominent law, insurance, transportation and financial services.

The tower has also implemented several green strategies, including the installation of a mock-up of the world’s tallest “green roof” on its 90th floor roof, in order to test its ability to absorb storm water and reduce urban heat island effect.

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