SINGAPORE: Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said his ministry has issued a stop work order for the entire worksite in Sentosa because it has found other safety lapses.
Mr Tan posted his comments following a visit to a worksite near Palawan Beach in Sentosa on Thursday morning.
A worksite accident there on Wednesday left one foreign worker dead and 10 others injured.
The deceased worker was a Chinese national who sustained head injuries.
A complete “Stop-Work Order”, lasting two weeks or more, has been imposed on the site until authorities are satisfied safety conditions are met.
During this time, all workers, supervisors and managers at the worksite will be required to undergo refresher safety training.
This will be on top of the year-round inspections and other enforcement activities that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will undertake.
Mr Tan said work will resume when the ministry is satisfied that the correct emphases and practices are in place so that workers can work safely.
Among the lapses found were gaps in safety barriers, unsafe excavation sites and poor housekeeping. The MOM also found improper scaffolding access points at the site.
The site’s main contractor, Debenho, said over 100 workers were told to stop construction duties when the accident happened.
It said the injured staff, including one critically hurt, are under medical observation and out of danger. These workers sustained body injuries, and comprised three Bangladeshis, six Chinese nationals and an Indian national.
Debenho said safety guidelines were followed, where a professional engineer designed the scaffolding, and also physically checked it after its construction.
Meanwhile Mr Tan said authorities will look at this incident alongside a series of others that have occurred since 2014 to see if common threads can be observed and lessons learnt.
On the incident, he questioned if the scaffolding was designed properly, installed according to approved procedures, and if the installation had been done by trained personnel.
While punitive measures for safety breaches may subsequently be re-looked, for now Mr Tan said the existing framework is sound.
The death of the worker at Sentosa on Wednesday brings the number of fatalities at worksite accidents to nine this year.
source: channelnewsasia.com
