Glass Ledge on North America's Tallest Functional Building Cracks Beneath Family's Feet

One family got the scare of their life Wednesday night when the glass ledge of the Willis Tower's Skydeck started to crack beneath their feet.

At about 10:00 p.m. a family heard the glass cracking as they walked into the glass box, which is 103 floors above the ground's surface.

"I walked them over so they could see and they were totally shocked and asked us to step away and then proceeded to start calling staff and techs and I don't know who else. When we pulled our phones to start recording and take pictures they asked us to leave right away," one of the family members told WMAQ-TV.

A spokesman says that's just a protective coating on the Willis Tower ledge that cracked. https://t.co/7Z7uiK7wRR pic.twitter.com/Yj7NYiBEFy

— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) May 29, 2014

A spokesman for the Willis Tower told the Chicago Sun-Times that the cracking was in a coating on the glass, not affecting the ledge's structural integrity.

Workers examine Ledge at Willis (Sears) Tower after Calif. family said one platform seemed to crack under their feet. pic.twitter.com/R6h3xYnId9

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) May 29, 2014

“Occasionally this happens, but that’s because we designed it this way,” he said. “Whatever happened last night is a result of the protective coating doing what it’s designed to.”

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