Foreign worker fell 4.7m through board to his death

The deceased worker had been clearing dismantled electrical fixtures in the building on Nov 14, 2019 as part of his work with several other workers when he stepped through a gypsum board covering the sides of an escalator pit.

Before this, workers had been throwing debris and dismantled electrical wiring from the second floor of the building into the pit on the first floor.

The gypsum board, or drywall, was not meant to hold a person's weight. It was also covered with concrete dust from other works and could not be distinguished from the concrete beams or other fixtures.

The deceased fell 4.7m and landed on the floor of the basement. He was later taken to hospital but resuscitation efforts failed, after he suffered cardiac arrests, and he was pronounced dead that morning.

An autopsy found that he had died from multiple injuries including fractures of the skull, ribs and sternum, or chest bone.

A safety briefing had been held that morning by the safety supervisor, which included a reminder not to go to unsafe areas and to wear equipment such as helmets at all times. 

The deceased worker was assigned along with two other men to do housekeeping works, clearing and cutting electrical wire and removing electrical trunking. They tossed the debris from the second floor into the escalator pit at the first floor, and later went into the pit to clear the items. While work was ongoing, one of the workers who was in the pit clearing the debris heard a loud noise. He looked up and saw a hole in the pit and alerted the rest that a worker had fallen down.

He was later taken to hospital unresponsive and without a pulse, and was pronounced dead later that morning.

(This article was adapted from the news article from CNA

Some learning points (my views):

1. Floor opening was not properly barricade, and the opening on the floor was not properly covered up. Generally, a one-inch thick plywood should be used to board up any opening on the floor.

2. Safety briefing was conducted, but sometimes it may not be relevant to the job on hand. Also, to use generic term like watch out for unsafe conditions may not be meaningful. Better to go into specifics. 

3. For control measures, should put more emphasis on engineering control,  e.g. a strong barricade, rather than administrative controls, such as briefings. 

For more reported accident cases, visit CNA page here