Company and site supervisor fined for fatal accident at Yio Chu Kang flyover

One worker died and three injured after falling 6.4 metres

1. Or Kim Peow Contractors (Private) Limited (OKP) and its Safety Coordinator and Site Supervisor, Victor Tan Kok Peng, were today convicted and fined $250,000 and $12,000 respectively under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA) in relation to a workplace accident on 22 September 2015. Four workers fell 6.4 metres to the ground when the section of the working platform they were standing on under Yio Chu Kang Flyover dislodged. One worker died and the other three suffered injuries (fractures and contusions).
2. OKP was charged under section 11(a) of the WSHA for failure to take adequate safety measures to ensure the working platform erected by the company was safe for use. Victor Tan Kok Peng was charged under section 15(3A) of the WSHA for performing a negligent act by assigning workers not adequately trained and briefed on the Professional Engineer’s (PE) design to erect the working platform.
3. Mr Chan Yew Kwong, MOM’s Director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate, highlighted: “This is a clear case of a company that does not take workplace safety seriously. As an approved scaffold contractor, the company did not have trained scaffold erectors to assemble the standing platform, nor were the workers under the immediate supervision of a scaffold supervisor. MOM will not hesitate to take punitive actions on companies and individuals who knowingly put workers at risk. There is no excuse for companies who fail to take ownership of workplace safety.”
   
   Case Background
4. OKP was engaged to expand the CTE/TPE/SLE interchange, which included structural, piping and finishing works for the flyover. The four workers were involved in the installation of the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer system to the soffit of the flyover when the accident occurred.
5. Victor Tan Kok Peng, was the Safety Coordinator and Site Supervisor of OKP in charge of the workers involved in the erection of the working platform.
6. MOM investigations revealed that:
   a. OKP failed to ensure that all persons involved in the erection of the working platform were trained scaffold erectors;
   b. The working platform was erected without the immediate supervision of a scaffold supervisor;
   c. OKP failed to erect the working platform according to the PE design;
   d. There were no warning sign/label displayed stating the maximum permissible load of the working platform at its access point; and
   e. Victor Tan Kok Peng had assigned workers who were not adequately trained and briefed on the PE design to erect the working platform.