SINGAPORE, Sept 24 — Two men have been jailed for negligence which resulted in the death of a Bangladeshi worker in 2017, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement today.
Workplace safety and health officer Tan Wee Meng was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment while Lee Chung Ling, a project director with Chan & Chan Engineering, was given a three-month sentence yesterday for offences under Section 15(3A) of the Workplace Safety and Health Act.
MOM said that Tan and Lee pleaded guilty on Aug 20 to committing negligent acts which endangered the safety of workers constructing a high-tension cable conduit.
Miah Salim, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi, was one of six people working at a site near Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 in March 2017.
He was in an excavated pit when he was hit and crushed by a dislodged metal plate weighing about 1,000kg.
MOM said that as the workplace safety and health officer, Tan failed to assist Chan & Chan Engineering, which was Miah’s employer, to identify and assess any foreseeable risk arising from the methods used to construct the high-tension cable conduit.
He also failed to recommend to the company “reasonably practicable” measures to eliminate foreseeable risks to workers by failing to conduct risk assessments and safe work procedures.
Separately, Lee, as the project manager onsite, failed to review the work method and processes for the formwork construction of the high-tension cable conduit.
He also did not ensure that Chan & Chan Engineering appointed a formwork supervisor for formwork activities at the workplace.
Lee failed to approve risk assessments and safe work procedures for the use of metal module formwork at the site and did not ensure that the control measures in the risk assessment for the works were implemented, specifically for the formwork activities within the workplace.
Chan & Chan Engineering was earlier fined S$150,000 for failing to take reasonably practicable measures to ensure the safety and health of its employees. — TODAY
