Workplace accidents in Singapore in February 2021

A short list of 11 fatalities from workplace accidents in Singapore for the month of February 2021:

1. Feb 1 - Indian worker, at Jurong West construction site

Found unconscious and slouched against the control panel of a boomlift. Died in hospital from injuries

2. Feb 2 - Prime mover driver, at Jurong Port Road

Fell 2m to the ground from trailer bed when he tried to adjust a steel bundle to help the forklift driver

3. Feb 8 - Delivery rider, Ayer Rajah expressway

Collided with the rear of a truck and was pronounced dead at the scene

4. Feb 10 - Director of JMS Construction, at University Walk

Fell through opening on the floor while overseeing work at the semi-detached house

5. Feb 16 - Self-employed Singaporean, at East Special Purposes anchorage

Fell into the sea while climbing down a pilot ladder of a vessel

6. Feb 20 - Bangladeshi Forklift operator, at Havelock Square 

Crushed by forklift after it reversed and fell into  a pit and toppled

7. Feb 21 - Indian worker, along Penjuru Road

Walking a long a path between 2 shipping containers. He was trapped between the 2 containers when one of them shifted.

8-10: Feb 25 - Tuas

3 workers died, and 5 critically injured in an explosion at a building in Tuas. The explosion was likely  caused by starch dust.

11. Feb 27 - Lift technician, at building in North Bridge Road

Trapped in lift shaft, between lift carriage and metal support structure of the lift

Source: most of the information was extracted from various news media including The Straits Times and CNA.

List of Workplace Fatal Accidents in Singapore (as of April 2016)

Listed below are some workplace accidents that occurred in 2016 (up to April). Information provided by WSH Council

Accident: Worker Fell Through Roof
Ref: 1516116, WSH Alert accident notification dated 10 March 2016
On 03 March 2016, at about 1615 hours, a worker fell through the roof of a workshop that was undergoing replacement of asbestos roof sheets and landed on the ground. He was pronounced dead by attending paramedics.
Click here to read more.

 Accident: Worker Died After Falling from Height
Ref: 1516116, WSH Alert accident notification dated 10 March 2016
On 04 March 2016, a group of workers were preparing to erect scaffolding within a ballast tank of a vessel. One of the workers fell through an opening and landed at the bottom of the tank. He was conveyed to a hospital but passed away the same day.
Click here to read more

Accident: Worker Fell Through False Ceiling
Ref: 1516120, WSH Alert accident notification dated 18 March 2016
On 11 March 2016, a worker was working above a false ceiling to install cable trunking when he fell through the false ceiling and landed on the ground. He was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene by attending paramedics.
Click here to read more

Accident: Worker Slipped and Fell Down the Stairs
On 25 March 2016, a security officer was showing his replacement around the work premises when he fell down a flight of stairs and struck his head. He was immediately conveyed to a hospital where he succumbed to his head injury the following day.
Click here to read more

Accident: Worker Fell from Roof of Building
Ref: 1617005, WSH Alert accident notification dated 08 April 2016
On 31 March 2016, a worker went to the roof of a building to check some piping works he had done the previous day. He was subsequently found at the foot of the building. He was brought to hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Click here to read more

Accident: Worker and Forklift Fell Through Opening
Ref: 1617005, WSH Alert accident notification dated 08 April 2016
On 02 April 2016, a worker was checking a forklift on the 4th storey of a building under construction when the forklift suddenly surged backwards and fell through a floor opening. He fell together with it and landed on the floor below. He was conveyed to the hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Click here to read more

Accident: Worker Found Pinned Between Truck and Wall
Ref: 1617111, WSH Alert accident notification dated 21 April 2016
On 16 Apr 2016, a worker was found pinned between the cabin of a vacuum pump truck and a wall. He was pronounced dead at the scene by attending paramedics.
Click here to read more

Worker Pinned by Fallen Wall Formwork Panel

On 23 January 2015, four workers were assembling wall formwork panels to prepare for subsequent casting of a wall. While they were adjusting the tie rods, an 11-metre rebar cage that had been installed nearby tilted towards the wall formwork panels. This caused the formwork panel to fall inwards, pinning one of the workers between the formwork panels. The worker was rescued and conveyed to the hospital, but he succumbed to his injury subsequently. The other three workers escaped unhurt.

Figure 1: Overview of accident scene

Recommendations*

1. Stability of the rebar cage Always calculate the slenderness ratio of the rebar cage to determine the safe free-standing height. Fabricate the cage in shorter lengths where possible e.g. 5-metre cages instead of 10-metre cage.To mitigate the instability of the standing rebar cage, provide proper designed support systems such as steel props and/or guy wires. These support systems should be inspected regularly to ensure that they are not removed or have weakened.                                                Figure 2: Support systems – guy wires and steel prop. 2.Formwork safety Formwork panels should not be left in free-standing position. Stable positions can be attained by securing the formwork using tie rods, additional steel props or anchor ties. If the formwork is hoisted into position, it should be adequately secured prior to the release of the lifting hooks to prevent accidental toppling.  The Professional Engineer (PE) who designs the formwork structure shall ensure that its construction or assembly can be executed safely. PEs involved in formwork-related activities are reminded to pay attention to formwork safety, so that workers will not be at risk of any accidental collapse. 3.Work coordination and communication Proper work coordination should be established for the different work activities within the worksite, especially when works are being carried out in a constrained environment. To ensure the better management and coordination of work activities, safe work methods and procedures should be established, communicated and implemented. A permit-to-work (PTW) system should also be put in place to control hazardous work and/or simultaneous activities at the site. The PTW sets out the precautions required to complete the work safely, and serve as a means of communication between the site management and personnel.

4. Risk Assessment Conduct thorough Risk Assessments (RAs) for all work activities to manage any foreseeable risk that may arise. The RAs should look into the following areas, but not limited to: Placement of rebar cage Support for rebar cage Assembly of formwork Formwork structure stability Working at height Emergency response and recover Source: www.wshc.sg

2 die and 8 injured in Downtown Line accident

10 workers were working on the casting of permanent roof slab between the new and old sections of Bugis MRT station. Eight were on top of the scaffolding supporting the formwork, while two others were working below.

Then, at 6.50am, the scaffolding 4m below the surface collapsed while workers were pouring concrete into the formwork.

Eight workers were injured and sent to Raffles Hospital, and two were missing. At 9.50am, LTA said that the two workers were still unaccounted for.

Over 50 SCDF rescuers and police officers arrived at the accident site with LTA employees, construction workers and two search dogs.

Collapsed bars and planks from the scaffolding covered the underground structure like a web. Rescue workers made their way through the 30m by 5m, and 15m-deep site by cutting metal bars with a blow torch.

At around 10.40am, a body was spotted trapped under fallen scaffolding and submerged in wet cement. It took workers an hour to extract the body. At noon, the death of one worker was confirmed.

Workers from the Public Utilities Board were also seen checking sewage pipes near the site, while police officers were spotted carrying a body tent, which is usually deployed in cases where deaths occurred.

Source: http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20120718-359829.html

Worker knocked off cherry picker dies

Published in the Straits Times on Jun 11, 2012

By Jennani Durai

A Bangladeshi worker died in hospital on Friday, a day after the cherry picker he was in hit an overhead bridge, throwing him to the ground.

Mr Nazrul Ali, 29, suffered head injuries from the 4m fall, as the cherry picker was at the time extended to its full height.

He is believed to have been hanging advertising banners from lamp posts when the lorry on which the cherry picker was mounted attempted to pass under an overhead bridge along Cantonment Road, near the Pinnacle@Duxton.

Mr Nazrul died in the Singapore General Hospital.

Worker dies after fall in Yishun

By Mark Soh
The New Paper
Thursday, May 03, 2012

He heard a loud bang coming from his block in Yishun where lift upgrading was being carried out.
This was followed by frantic shouting and the sound of running feet.
A resident who wanted to be known only as Mr Sinniah, 90, rushed out of his flat and looked over the common corridor parapet.
To his horror, he saw the body of a Indian construction worker lying in a drain.
"I have never heard the sound of a body hitting the ground after a fall.
"I thought at first that some equipment had fallen off the platform," he said.
At about 4.10pm yesterday, a construction worker fell from the eighth-storey lift landing of Block 107, Yishun Ring Road.
The block had been undergoing lift upgrading by Kienta Engineering Construction.
"It was a chilling sound," said Mr Sinniah, who lives on the seventh storey of that block.
A spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) confirmed receiving a call at 4.22pm and dispatched an ambulance.
Paramedics certified the man was dead and handed the case to the police.

MOM also present

Officers from MOM's Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate went to the site to investigate.
The worker had been assisting another construction worker who was operating welding equipment.
The MOM spokesman said he was reportedly retrieving an electrical cable hanging over the safety barricades at the side of the lift landing before he fell. The safety rails that straddled the platform fell with him.
When contacted, a police spokesmansaid they received a call at about 4.30pm. Upon arrival, they found the body of an Indian national in his 20s.
The case has been classified as unnatural death and investigations are ongoing.

A co-worker gave the dead man's name as Mr Dinoth Kumar. He said Mr Kumar, 24, had worked in Singapore for more than two years and had been with Kienta Engineering Construction for about eight months.
The co-worker said: "When he fell, he landed in a drain. The worker on the eighth storey who was using the welding machinery and another friend helped lift his body out of the drain."
He said that Mr Kumar had two younger brothers and elderly parents back in India.
MOM has instructed Kienta Engineering Construction to stop work at the accident scene.
When approached, a safety officer from the company declined to comment.
A resident known only as Madam Ros, 55, an odd-job worker who lives on the seventh storey, said: "I saw an ambulance arrive and paramedics rushing out.
"When I saw them return empty-handed without a stretcher or a body, I knew that he didn't make it."

This article was first published in The New Paper.

Worker Died After Falling Through Viewing Platform on Board Ship

Received by e-mail from WSH Council, dated 4 April 2012.

Recently, a worker was killed when he fell from a viewing platform on board a ship undergoing repair work. At the time of accident, he was tasked to oversee the movement of the ship from the dock. When he was walking on the viewing platform that was made of metal gratings, a section of the gratings gave way. He fell through the opening and landed on the deck about 7.8m below.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the bracket supporting the grating was corroded and gave way under his weight causing him to fall.

Schematic view of the scene of the accident

Recommendations*:

Industry stakeholders undertaking similar work activities are advised to consider the following to prevent a recurrence:

1. Conduct proper checks on all sections of the ship where workers are required to work safely;

2. Ensure safety inspections are carried out on the ship’s access and work platforms, railings, ladders and walkways, etc to ensure there are no corrosion or rusted parts before any work activities are allowed to be carried out;

3. Repair or replace corroded parts of the access and work platforms, railings, ladders and walkways, etc before allowing workers to access these areas;

4. Cordon off all unsafe work areas and put up “Danger - No Entry” signs;

5. Put up suitable safety signages at the work location to remind workers of the job hazards;

6. Supervise all work activities to ensure safe work practices are adhered to onsite.

For more information on Workplace Safety and Health, please refer to the following links below:

• Workplace Safety and Health Act (Chapter 354A), please click HERE
• Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations, please click HERE
• 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.

Worker Struck by Excavator Bucket

In a recent incident that occured at night, a worker was killed after being struck by an excavator bucket.. The excavator was backfilling quarry dust to the voids at the sides of a newly constructed box culvert wall. The worker was standing near the piles of quarry dust when the bucket struck him. He passed away in hospital a few days later.

Photograph was taken after the piles of quarry dust had been removed

Recommendations*:

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

1. During night work, workers should don personal protective equipment that increases visibility, such as reflective tape and vests, that can help improve their safety at work.

2. Prior to the start of any work, conduct an adequate risk assessment to identify all hazards and the risks involved. Control measures and safe work procedures must be established and implemented.

3. It is recommended that works that involve heavy machinery be carried out during the day, where visibility is better. This would eliminate or mitigate hazards associated with night work, for instance, reduced visibility, machine operator impairment or inattention, fatigue, lack of adequate lighting etc.

4. Ensure adequate illumination is provided when carrying out work. For more details, refer to SS 531:2008 Code of Practice for Lighting of Work Places.

5. Establish detailed method statements and safe work procedures that are specific to the tasks. The safe work procedures must be communicated to and understood by the workers carrying out the work and adhered to. It is important to detail out separate safe work procedures for day and night work, due to the significant difference in environmental conditions.

6. All persons involved in the work must be adequately trained to be competent for the job, as well as be aware of the risks and the safety precautions required. Workers who were not involved in the work should not be allowed near areas where work is done using heavy machinery.

7. Supervise workers adequately to ensure assigned tasks are carried out in a safe manner. The responsibilities of supervisors include regular inspections to identify and manage hazards at the worksite. The supervisor should ensure that safe work procedures are adhered to.

For more information on Workplace Safety and Health, please refer to the following links below:

• Workplace Safety and Health Act (Chapter 354A), please click HERE
• Workplace Safety and Health (General Provisions) Regulations, please click HERE
• Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations, please click HERE
• Workplace Safety and Health (Construction) Regulations, please click HERE
• Code of Practice on WSH Risk Management, please click HERE
• CP 18 : 1992 Code of Practice for Earthworks, available from SPRING Singapore
• SS 531: 2008 Code of Practice for Lighting of Work Places, available from SPRING Singapore
• SS 562 : 2010 on Code of Practice for Safety in Trenches, Pits and Other Excavated Areas, available from SPRING Singapore

*Pls note the recommendations are not exhaustive.

Original Source: Received from WSH Council via e-mail.

Bangladeshi worker killed after concrete slab falls on him

Source: AsiaOne Sunday, Mar 11, 2012

A Bangladeshi worker was killed at a Downtown MRT Line construction site near Botanic Gardens yesterday morning after a concrete slab fell on him.

The Straits Times reported that 35-year-old Masud Al Mamun was operating an excavator deep in the ground when the slab fell on him at the construction site along Evans Road, off Bukit Timah Road.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rescuers had to use a breaking tool kit to break a portion of the concrete slab. It took them nearly five hours to reach the man lying motionless on the ground.
A 10-tonne jack and two airbags were used to stabilise the concrete slab before they could remove Mr Masud Al Mamun. He was pronounced dead at about 9am.

According to the English daily, Mr Masud Al Mamun was with another worker at the lowest level of the site, three to four storeys below ground, when the accident happened. They had been tasked to remove the concrete slab, which later fell on Mr Mamun. The other worker had managed to move away in time as he saw soil crumbling from above. He was not injured.

2 construction workers killed in separate accidents

One of the construction workers is a Chinese, the other a Bangladeshi

Published in The Straits Times on Mar 1, 2012

A policeman at the scene of yesterday's accident at Suites@East Coast. Mr Jaydub Kobiraz, 36, was hacking at the base of an exposed section of a 2m-long concrete pile when it collapsed and struck him on his head. In a separate accident in Fort Road yesterday, a 21m-tall crane toppled, killing a Chinese national. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

 

By Tham Yuen-C & Lee Xin En

 

Two construction workers were killed on Wednesday in separate worksite accidents.
The first, involving a 36-year-old Bangladeshi, happened at the Upper East Coast Road site for the upcoming Suites@East Coast condominium.
Mr Jaydub Kobiraz Nimoy Kobiraz was hacking at the base of an exposed section of a 2m-long concrete pile when it collapsed at about 9.30am and struck him on the back of his head, preliminary investigations by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) show.
Workers at the scene said that he fell forward, head first, and that his forehead was pierced by an iron rod, even though he was wearing a helmet. Two others who were working alongside him were unhurt.

Worker crushed to death in dough-mixing machine

Published in the Straits Times on Feb 20, 2012

The accident last Saturday night occurred at the Eng Bee Foodstuffs factory in Defu Lane.

First his foot got trapped. Then, the foreign worker who was cleaning a dough-mixing machine got folded in as it started churning, and he was crushed.

The 25-year-old Chinese national was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.13pm, less than 15 minutes after falling in. No one could say how exactly the accident occurred, but it is believed he had been cleaning the machine just before it happened.

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

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