Singapore—A foreign worker figured in a fatal accident on Sunday (Oct 11) when a steel beam fell on him.
The worker, a 39-year-old Indian national, was trying to secure the beams unto a truck loader when the accident occurred. He reportedly died on the spot.
According to an October 13 post on the Traffics accident.SG Facebook page, the worker was an employee of Hai Lek Engineering and Construction located at 40 Tuas West Road. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has since ordered Hai Leck Engineering and Construction to suspend all loading, unloading, and delivery works following the fatal accident, which occurred at the firm’s workshop in Tuas.
In response to inquiries from The Straits Times, MOM said that the worker had been adjusting the binding of the steel beams to the bed of a truck loader. When one lashing got loose, it fell on him, causing his demise.
The post added that the cause of the accident is as follows: “Stacked 4 nos of structure materials in a lorry loader and tied up with sling and the lorry started to move from workshop eventually the structure started to slide a bit from its original position, so the lifting supervisor wanted to restack the materials in-order to do that he open up the tie sling upon he remove the sling tie the structure material (Around 800 KG) on him crushed him and he passed away on the spot.”
The police, who had been alerted to the incident at 11:25 on Sunday morning, are currently investigating the matter, according to the straitstimes.com.
Regarding workplace accidents, MOM said on September 28 that the number of injuries sustained in the workplace have decreased by around 25 per cent this year, likely due to temporary workplace closures in the second quarter of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
—/TISG
Read also: MOM: 3 workplace fatalities in 2020 to date