WSH Alert – Workers Fell together with a Cherry Picker Basket

Incident

Two workers fell to their death while they were on a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) to carry out abrasive blasting work on a vessel. They were in the basket of the MEWP (a cherry picker) about 25m from the ground, when the MEWP’s extended boom suddenly buckled. The basket, together with the two workers, dropped towards the ground and hit a keel block on the ground.

Source: WSH Council (e-mail)

WSH Alert – Worker Fell from Platform at Concrete Batching Plant

Incident
A worker was tasked to hack and remove hardened concrete within the discharge hopper of a concrete mixing equipment. The equipment was located about 7 metres above ground with a work platform surrounding it. At about 12.20p.m., he was found dead on the ground directly below an uncovered opening on the platform. The metal grating for the platform’s opening was found removed.

Source: WSH Council (e-mail)

Lift Related Incidents

Incident

Recently, two separate lift-upgrading related incidents occurred within a week, when workers fell into lift shafts during work. One worker survived the fall in one incident while another was killed in the other incident.

In the first incident, a worker was tasked to install electrical panels at a riser located on the 9th and 10th storey outside a lift shaft. While marking out the positions of the panels inside the riser on the 9th storey, the worker fell through the unprotected lift door opening into the lift shaft. He managed to grab onto an existing lifeline meant for a lift shaft gondola and that slowed down his fall. The worker landed at the new lift car platform which was at the 1st storey. He survived with injuries to his head, neck and hands.

In the second incident, as part of lift dismantling works, two workers were lowering lift components from the lift motor room of a 12-storey building into the lift pit below. The items were lowered down manually, using a length of nylon rope. One stood outside the elevated lift motor slab beam, while the other stood inside it. When they were lowering a pair of C-channels (combined weight approximately 180kg), the worker inside the raised beam fell through the floor opening, landed in the lift pit and was killed. The deceased was found wearing a safety harness.

Recommendations*

Stakeholders involved in similar work situations can undertake control measures such as the following to prevent recurrence:

1. A Fall Prevention Plan (FPP) is a framework that allows for safe work at height through a systematic and organised method of identifying, managing and controlling hazards in the workplace. The details of the FPP are specified in the Code of Practice for Working Safely at Height. 2. Lift shaft openings should be guarded or barricaded to prevent accidental falls of persons or items into the lift shaft. Such guards or barricades should only be removed for approved work processes and must be replaced as soon as the work is completed or stopped. 3. Workers carrying out work at height should be provided with, and trained in the proper use of appropriate personal protective equipment. Fall protection and travel restraint systems need to be anchored to provide the intended protection for workers against falling from height. 4. Work out a safe method for lowering heavy items. In the second case, using a chain block or pulley system would have decreased the physical strain of lowering heavy loads. Alternatively, the load could have been reduced by lowering one C-channel at a time. Additionally, the worker might have been prevented from falling by working outside of the raised beam instead of within it. Source: WSH Alert (from WSH Council)

Cleaning company, director fined for accident that killed four workers

04:45 AM Dec 09, 2011

SINGAPORE - A director of a cleaning company, Tay Kah Heng, was fined S$50,000 for his negligence in acquiring a correct understanding of materials to be used during a chemical cleaning process.

It resulted in an accident that claimed four lives and injured one worker in 2009.

The company, Chemic Industries, was also fined S$100,000 for contravening provisions under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

Tay was also fined an additional S$4,000 because one of the deceased workers did not have a valid work permit. The work permit was for him to work as a construction worker for another company.

On Feb 27, 2009, 30 minutes after the workers started using nitric acid to clean two heat exchangers, a white substance gushed out and brown fumes were released.

Five workers engaged by Chemic to carry out the cleaning of the exchangers came into contact with the white substance and were taken to the hospital.

Four of them succumbed to their injuries, while the remaining worker survived, with chemical burns to various parts of his limbs.

The Ministry of Manpower's investigations revealed that the accident was a result of the chemical reaction between the nitric acid and the residual polymer inside the heat exchanger. Gases and pressure were produced inside the exchanger, causing the white substance to gush out.

The two exchangers had gone through an earlier round of water cleaning with another contractor, Alfa Laval Singapore, which provided a Material Safety Data Sheet to indicate that strong reactions may occur when residual solution comes into contact with oxidising agents such as nitric acid.

Despite Tay conducting a test on the efficacy of the chemicals in an open environment, prior to the commencement of work, the Manpower Ministry said his negligence in acquiring a correct understanding of the Data Sheet posed a high risk to the workers.

The Data Sheet had also required workers to wear protective gear during the chemical cleaning process, which Tay had failed to provide to his workers. Channel NewsAsia

Source: TodayOnline

WSH Alert – Collapsed Concrete Blocks Injured Workers

Incident

Four persons were injured when concrete blocks crashed into a site office they were working in. The blocks had been acting as a retaining structure for a stockpile of aggregates at a neighbouring site. Their collapse damaged the dividing boundary hoarding and the site office.

Preliminary findings showed that there was no reinforcement between the concrete blocks. The retaining wall could have given way under the high lateral pressure aggravated by the stocking up of the stockpile and the heavy rain that occurred before the incident.

Figure 1: Overview of the scene after the incident

Recommendations*

 

Stakeholders involved in similar set-ups should consider the following to help prevent an incident recurrence.

• Get a professional engineer (PE) to design the retaining structure and certify that it is adequate for its intended purpose;
• Ensure that the stockpile’s setup is proper, safe and not over stacked;
• Identify and control all possible hazards and risks associated with the works; and
• Establish proper water drainage for the stockpile to prevent build-up of hydrostatic pressure

 

Source: WSH Alert from WSH Council dated 6 October 2011

Pulau Bukom aftermath: Shell chairman remains calm under fire

For 32 hours last month, Singaporeans watched with rapt attention as a fire burned on an island 5km off the southern shore of Singapore.

While firefighters battled to contain the conflagration at Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery, an eight-man strong crisis team huddled inside a room at Shell's headquarters on 83 Clemenceau Avenue, miles away from the action. Heading this team was Mr Lee Tzu Yang, the 56-year-old chairman of Shell companies in Singapore.

For the man facing the largest refinery fire in Singapore for more than 20 years, the pressure was on. There was a hint of irony too in the situation - Mr Lee is also the chairman of Singapore's Workplace Safety and Health Council. But if the heat was on him, one would have been hard-pressed to see it.

Shell's response to the crisis turned out to be so slick and well-oiled that Mr Lee said he did not have trouble sleeping about four or five hours each night, and did not even need to set foot on the island until the fire went out on Sept 29.

Background story

Shell chairman takes leave from workplace safety council
Shell Singapore chairman Lee Tzu Yang, who also helms the Workplace Safety and Health Council, took a temporary leave of absence from the industry body last Monday.
He told The Sunday Times that the move was to avoid any conflicts of interest as the inquiry into the cause of the Pulau Bukom fire gets under way.
'I wanted to make absolutely clear from the beginning that I do not seek to, and will not, have any influence whatsoever on the investigation, and Shell will fully cooperate,' said Mr Lee.
'This leave of absence will also enable me to better focus on Shell's recovery efforts.'
The blaze, which engulfed a pump house at the oil giant's half-a-million barrel-a-day refinery on Pulau Bukom, burned for 32 hours two weeks ago. As a result, parts of the refinery - Shell's largest in the world - have been temporarily shut down.
Investigations by the Ministry of Manpower and Singapore Civil Defence Force are still ongoing.
Mr Lee said he is confident Shell will take the lessons learnt from the fire in its stride and be the better for it.
'Safety is too important for us to shrink from the responsibility to make this message heard,' he said. 'If we do not step up to this, we will not succeed in making Singapore a leader for safety and health in the workplace.'
The 18-member council was established in 2008 to help raise workplace safety and health standards among local industry players.
The Manpower Ministry said yesterday that Maritime Sustainability chief executive Heng Chiang Gnee will be acting chairman of the council.

Source: The Sunday Times (9 Oct 2011)

Man buried in Jurong Island sandpit dies

A safety officer died at Jurong Island on Wednesday after being partially buried in a four-storey sandpit.

Fahmy Roslee's body was partly covered by sand and seawater at the Alstom Power Singapore worksite when SCDF personnel found him.

According to The New Paper, the 21-year-old had gone down to the pit to conduct an investigation at 4:30pm, after finding out that seawater was leaking into the pit.

On one side of pit, situated next to the sea, was a wall with metal sheet piles to control the flow of seawater, which was used to cool machinery.

A few minutes later, Roslee's colleagues spotted him lying on the bottom of the pit, with sand filling it up at the edges.

An eyewitness told the tabloid that workers gathering around the pit, thinking of how to help Roslee out.

Two excavators were deployed but later recalled because they were not of any help to the situation.

SCDF personnel, after receiving a call at 4:43pm, arrived shortly after to survey the site and determine how to rescue Roslee.

At 7pm, personnel from the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) was lowered into the pit to get Roslee out.

A total of five DART personnel were deployed to retrieve Roslee.

An SCDF spokesman said that the officers used a metal cage that was lowered by a crane to get to him. They used their hands to remove the sand from Roslee's body before placing him on the stretcher.

His body was then raised back to ground level in the metal cage.

Roslee was pronounced dead on arrival at 8pm.

It is not known if he died from a fall or from being buried in the sand, but investigations are ongoing.
The Ministry of Manpower has suspended on-site sub-structure and temporary earth retaining works.

Source: Yahoo! News

Economy may lose more than $100m if refinery is closed for a month: Economists

Pulau Bukom Shell refinery fire: Counting the losses      Published on Oct 5, 2011 in the Straits Times

 

What Shell's Pulau Bukom offshore petroleum complex in Singapore looked like after a fire was put out on Sept 29. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

By Robin Chan

 

The all clear was given on Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery site on Tuesday, even as operations remain in the process of being shut down. An all-clear safety siren was sounded at 2pm. However, the area around what is known as pump house 43, which is where the fire broke out seven days ago, is still under 'strict control' according to an internal staff memo.

The local economy could suffer a hit of more than a $100 million if the massive Bukom refinery closes for a month, economists have said. The oil giant's plant, which refines 500,000 barrels a day and is Shell's largest in the world, was shut down following a 32-hour fire last week.

Economists looked at the value added to the economy from the petroleum refining and petrochemicals industries, to estimate the cost of closing the plant. Naturally, the costs will vary depending on how long the closure lasts and how much economic activity is lost.

Preparation work likely cause of Bukom fire

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has found that the 32-hour-long fire at Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery was caused by preparation work for maintenance.

An investigation conducted by the MOM's Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate found that a suction truck that was involved in siphoning residual oil through a pipeline could have cause a spark and ignited the oil, reported The Straits Times.

The fire eventually spread and became a lot bigger within the area of the pump house. The petroleum company has confirmed that it they have declared force majeure on a few clients as more investigations continue.
Force majeure is a clause used commonly in contracts that frees parties from liability when an uncontrollable event happens.
Shell's safety procedures are also under scrutiny by MOM.
There were no casualties resulting from the fire that started last Wednesday last until Thursday night.

Source: www.asiaone.com 4 Oct 2011

Traces of fuel vapour remain in affected area after Shell Bukom fire

<>Picture taken on 30 September. Foam used by firefighters in the vicinity of the pump house (photo taken from Shell Singapore website)<> <>SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) says traces of fuel vapour remain in the affected area, two days after the blaze at Shell's Pulau Bukom oil refinery was extinguished on Thursday after a 32-hour battle. The oil giant and authorities are monitoring the situation, and a fresh batch of firefighters was sent to the island on Saturday morning. Giving an update, Shell said foaming operations are continuing at parts of the incident site, with damage confined to the vicinity of the pump house. It added other facilities and units are not affected and only essential operating personnel are on the island. Shell said it's too early to assess how much the fire will cost the company. It said efforts are ongoing to bring the situation back to normal at the refinery, the company's biggest. The company does not expect any shutdown units to be restarted until a thorough investigation has been conducted and safety is assured. The Ministry of Manpower has stepped in to investigate the cause of the fire. Shell said it deeply regrets the incident and is talking to customers to address product supply and minimise any potential impact on them. Source: CNA/ir <>

Gov't probes cause of Bukom refinery fire

Smoke and flames rise from the Royal Dutch Shell's Pulau Bukom offshore petroleum complex in Singapore on Wednesday 28 September 2011. Another explosion occurred Thursday, 29 September 2011 around noon local time.

(AP Photo/Sharon Tan)

The government is investigating the cause of oil giant Shell's recent Pulau Bukom refinery fire, which saw more than 100 firefighters battling the erratic two-day blaze.

Two investigators from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) have been deployed to the island and are working with Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers.

The ministry said on Friday it would work with Shell to examine its safety framework and tighten safety standards to prevent another such occurrence, reported The Straits Times.

MOM officers are also looking for the cause of the fire, which began in the pump room that had interconnecting pipes with fuel compounds.

The fire, which started on Wednesday 1:15pm, was finally extinguished at 9:18pm on Thursday after 32 hours. The SCDF used water jets and foam to disperse traces of fuel vapor that was still in the air on Friday.

Six Shell firefighters who were injured while fighting the initial outbreak have gone back to their normal duties after medical treatment.

SCDF said it would keep 100 firefighters and 34 vehicles on the island as precaution.

Shell sources also confirmed with the paper that the refinery is still progressively shutting down but a spokesperson said no timeline has been given for how long it will continue or when the investigations will be completed.

Wire reports have reported that the shutdown could last a month.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affair Minister Teo Chee Hean visited the refinery for an hour on Friday. He told the paper there was good cooperation between SCDF and Shell, as well as in the industry.

"The fire has been extinguished. The key thing now is to make sure that it does not reignite, and the residual hydrocarbons from the fire are properly dealt with," he was quoted as saying.

"We also want to make sure that the risks are properly handled and reduced. Going forward, we should learn from the lessons and prevent the occurrence of such fires," he noted.

Pulau Bukom is Shell's largest refinery worldwide. It processes 500,000 barrels a day with 90 per cent of the products exported to the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

 

Source: Yahoo News

Shell may shut entire refinery at Pulau Bukom

Posted: 29 September 2011 2041 hrs
(www.channelnewsasia.com)

SINGAPORE: As the fire at Shell's Pulau Bukom refinery continues, the company says it will shut down the whole facility if that's what it takes to put out the blaze completely. A full shutdown will take two days.

The company has shut several units in the vicinity of the fire at the 500,000-barrels-a-day refinery including a hydrocracker, Shell said earlier.

Speaking at a media conference on Thursday evening, Shell Singapore chairman Lee Tzu Yang said they are working to identify the source that is still feeding the fire which broke out on Wednesday afternoon.

The fire is confined to a pump house and a complex interconnected system of pipelines. The pipes are no longer in use but still contain fuel, which causes flares when the pipes open up under fire.

Shell Vice-President of Manufacturing Operations East, Martijn van Koten, said the fire is likely related to maintenance work that was being carried out at the time.

However, he declined to give details saying this would be pure speculation.

Shell said investigations will be carried out after the fire is put out, which remains its firm priority.

Mr van Koten said the strategy is to starve the fire and contain it in an area where it can be put out.

Fresh explosions were heard at the refinery around noon on Thursday.

Witnesses at the Pasir Panjang port and at West Coast said they saw more black smoke and fireballs shooting into the sky.

Ben Koh, an eyewitness at Pasir Panjang port, said: "The fireball was 10, 20 metres in height. After that I can see small flames, but ... from a small portion of the island."

He said the smoke got thicker, with the smell of petrol in the air. "It's not really that strong, but you can smell it," he added.

Shell said in a statement that it experienced a surge in the fire at the refinery around noon, but the fire remains contained.

It said the surge in the fire was caused by the remnants of light fuel components where the fire started.

The company said the smoke that several callers to the Channel NewsAsia news hotline said they saw was from hydrocarbons that are not fully combusted.

Shell said it is working closely with the SCDF, and its global fire consultants are also on site to provide input to the team.

In a separate statement earlier Thursday, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said fire fighting operations are still underway, but the fire is contained within the bund wall.

SCDF said about 20 water jets are being used to carry out boundary cooling operations to prevent heat exposure to the nearby storage tanks.

Two SCDF fire engines were badly damaged by the fire and one fire engine sustained partial damage.

SCDF said early Thursday that it has about 100 fire fighters fighting the fire with six fire engines and 13 support vehicles.

About 250 essential Shell personnel are also on Pulau Bukom helping with the operations.

The company also said that the six Shell firefighters injured while fighting the initial outbreak have gone back to their normal duties following medical attention.

Fire at Shell Bukom Continues

Bukom Fire continues

Fire still burns at Shell Singapore refinery

(Picture from asiaone.com)

SINGAPORE - A fire continued to burn on Thursday at Royal Dutch Shell's largest refinery, its 500,000 barrel-a-day Singapore plant, but the blaze is under control, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said.

The fire started in the plant on an island off Singapore's shores on Wednesday, forcing Shell to close a hydrocracking unit that helps make diesel fuel, as a safety measure.

"Fire-fighting operations are still underway," the Singapore Civil Defence (SCDF) said in a statement early on Thursday.

"There are about 100 SCDF fire-fighters fighting the fire with six fire engines and 13 support vehicles. About 250 essential Shell personnel are also on Pulau Bukom."

Shell could not immediately be reached for comment. In a statement issued earlier, Shell said the fire had been contained and that it had accounted for all staff.

Crude processing units at the plant, which make up more than a third of the island nation's total refining capacity, were running at a reduced rate, Shell said on Wednesday.

Production units at the refinery near the blaze were shut as a precaution. Shell said in the process of the closure a larger flare would be visible. The flare was no cause for alarm, as no toxic vapours were being released, Shell said.

One Shell firefighter suffered a superficial injury, and five others had heat exhaustion and pulled muscles, it added.

MARKET IMPACT

Since Singapore is the world's largest market for fuel oil and Asia's hub for crude and refined product trading, regional prices could take a hit from any disruptions that might arise from the fire, as some capacity has already been taken offline.

Late on Wednesday, Shell said it would continue to supply Singapore's fuel markets with products from storage and other refineries, so the company expects no shortages in the market.

Refinery sources said the fire occurred where finished oil products are transferred from the final production unit into storage tanks by being pumped through pipelines.
Shell is operating its ethylene cracker normally at the plant. The ethylene cracker is typically fed by products from the hydrocracking unit that was shut due to the fire. The company is supplying alternative feedstock to the ethylene cracker to keep it running, Shell had said.

Shell, one of the biggest naphtha traders and suppliers in Asia, sold an unusually heavy volume of at least 40,000 tonnes of prompt October/November naphtha swaps on Wednesday, traders said.

The smoke plume generated from the fire has not affected Singapore so far, the National Environment Agency said. In a statement it said it was keeping close watch on the situation and asked the public not to be alarmed.

Source: www.asiaone.com

Fire at Shell Bukom

Pictures from Asiaone.com

Reuters
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011

SINGAPORE - A fire has intensified at Royal Dutch Shell’s Singapore refinery, the company’s largest, a senior company executive said on Wednesday.

“There is a fire and it grew significantly, but I am not aware of an explosion,” said Lee Tzu Yang, chairman for Shell Companies in Singapore.

“My understanding is that there are no people injured.”

A Shell spokesman had initially said that the fire at the 500,000 barrels per day refinery, which broke out at around 0515 GMT, had been contained.

Eyewitnesses said explosions were heard and the fire worsened at the plant on Bukom Island. A dark cloud of smoke could be seen over mainland Singapore and the Jurong Island oil hub.

“The smoke has become much thicker and flames are rising up five to eight storeys every 15-20 minutes,” said a Reuters eyewitness.

Refinery sources said the fire occurred at an area where clean oil products were pumped from the plant’s secondary units via pipelines into storage tanks and into the wharf area for discharge into tankers as well as for loading.

Shell did not give any details on what operations have been affected. The complex, situated on the island of Pulau Bukom, comprises a 500,000 barrels-per-day refinery and an 800,000 tonnes-per-year cracker.

Source: www.asiaone.com

Hit by Falling Object

This worker was hit by a falling object. The object fell about 30 storeys. Luckily for him, he was wearing his helmet.

The worker was hospitalised for about a week. Part of the skull was removed (equivalent to a 50c coin in size)

The object broke through the helmet before striking the head. Imagine if he had not worn his helmet!

Chemical spill in NUS

A chemical spill in a cargo lift at the National University of Singapore resulted in two men being hurt on Thursday afternoon.

As the chemical was acidic in nature, one of them suffered burns to his hands and legs, while the other complained of skin irritation.The former was sent to Singapore General Hospital (SGH), while the latter was conveyed to the National University Hospital (NUH).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were called in to clear up the spill that was confined within the cargo lift.

They cleared the spillage with absorbents. As a precautionary measure the SCDF and the building's Fire Safety Manager evacuated the whole building.

The cause of the spill is under investigation.

(Original Source: AsiaOne, Fri, Jul 08, 2011)

For Chemical Spill Training, contact: enquiry@kavservices.sg

WSH Alert – Worker Crushed by Toppled Steel Gate

6 Jun 2011, Ref: 1011133 WSH Alert – Worker Crushed by Toppled Steel Gate Incident In March 2011, two security officers were manually closing a steel sliding gate about 10m long by 2.5m high. In the process, the gate dislodged and it toppled onto one of the officers. The officer was pinned to the ground and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Preliminary investigation revealed that the steel sliding gate was initially designed to be operated by remote. Its motor, equipped with over-travelling limit switches, had been removed for repairs prior to the incident. Figure 1: Position of two security officers manually closing the steel gate Figure 2: Worker crushed by toppled gate Recommendations*: Occupiers of premises that include similar size metal sliding gates can undertake control measures such as the following to prevent an accident: Install a suitable physical stopper or barrier to prevent the gate from over-travelling. The length and weight of the gate must be taken into consideration to assess the suitability of the stopper or barrier. Inform users of the gate if any part of the gate (stopper or motor) which affects the normal operation of the gate is removed for repairs. Inform users about any peculiar environmental conditions, e.g. sloping ground where it might affect the stability of the gates during operation. Further Information: 1. Workplace Safety and Health Act (Chapter 354A), please click here 2. Workplace Safety and Health (General Provisions) Regulations, please click here 3. Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations, please click here 4. Code of Practice on WSH Risk Management, please click here * Please note that the information provided is not exhaustive and is for the benefit of enhancing workplace safety and health so that a recurrence may be prevented. The information provided is not to be construed as implying any liability to any party nor should it be taken to encapsulate all the responsibilities and obligations of the reader of WSH Alert under the law.

We regret that we are unable to reply to emails to this address. For enquiries or feedback, please email us at contact@wshc.sg . Visit the WSH Council's website now for updates on WSH-related matters, information and events. This WSH Bulletin is available free of charge, may be printed or downloaded onto electronic, optical or similar storage media provided that such activities are for private research, study, or in-house use only. If such material is to be copied or reproduced, users are asked to ensure that the material is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context, that the status of the material is identified and to acknowledge Workplace Safety & Health Council, Singapore as the source of the material. If you wish to update your WSH Bulletin profile, please click here .