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Oral Answer by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State, National Development, to Parliamentary Question on the Downtown Line Bugis Station Accident

Notice Paper No. 255 of 2012 for the Sitting on 13 August 2012
Questions No. 553 and 554 for Oral Answer

MP: Mr Arthur Fong

Question

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower what were the causes that led to the collapse of a concrete roof at the worksite of the Downtown Line Bugis station and whether any safety measures were breached.

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower with regard to the recent work accident at the Downtown Line Bugis station (a) whether the workers, including the two deceased foreign workers, were working beyond the prescribed working hours; and (b) whether the company that employed the foreign workers had breached any employment regulations.

Answer

  1. We are all saddened from the news that two workers had to lose their lives as a result of the accident at the worksite of the new Downtown Line Bugis station. This is a stark reminder that accidents can happen at any time which can result in loss of lives, injuries or even damage to public and private properties. We must thus always be on our guard and take necessary precautionary measures to ensure that work is carried out without risk to our workers.
  2. The Ministry of Manpower will not tolerate employers who contravene safety regulations. If employers are found to be endangering the lives of their worker, firm enforcement action will be taken.
  3. We are currently investigating into the cause of the Downtown Line accident. As such, I will only share some preliminary findings.
  4. A group of workers were concreting the roof slab of a linkway to connect the existing East-West line to the Downtown line at Bugis station. Most of the concreting work had been completed when sometime between 6am to 6.50am on 18 July 2012, the formwork collapsed. Two workers who were working underneath the structure at the time of accident died, while the eight workers who were working on top of the structure suffered minor injuries.
  5. Following the accident, BCA conducted the necessary checks to ensure that the structural safety of the surrounding buildings and the road above were not affected. My ministry ordered all formworks and concreting works at the accident worksite to cease so that risk assessments and work procedures at the worksite could be reviewed. At the same time, the company was required to devise and submit a recovery plan to remove the collapsed formwork structure and its associated material safely. After a thorough review of the company’s work procedures as well as their submitted recovery plan to ensure that all necessary safety precautions are in place, we have lifted the stop work order on 28 Aug 2012.
  6. One of the areas that we are investigating is whether fatigue and extended working hours could have contributed to the accident. If the employer is found to have breached any regulations on hours of work under the Employment Act, relevant action will be taken.
  7. Other areas of investigation that we are focusing on include the adequacy of the formwork structure design, the conformity of the erected formwork to the approved design and the quality of formwork structure material. In the course of our investigation, we will continue to share, where appropriate, the findings that may have an impact on formwork processes at worksites to ensure work safety.