Falling Pipe Kills Shipyard Worker

The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 14 January 2009.

Falling pipe kills shipyard worker instantly
By Teh Joo Lin

A falling pipe hit an Indonesian worker in a shipyard near the West Coast yesterday morning, killing him.

The 38-year-old, said to be a driller employed by an oil-rig subcontractor, died on the spot at the PPL Shipyard in Pandan Road.

He was on a 72m-long oil-drilling rig when the 10m-long pipe was being lifted overhead by machinery during tests.

He was hit on the head and body when the pipe came free from its hoist. Worker and pipe then fell onto the deck of the oil rig.

By the time Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedics arrived, he was already dead, his skull and arm fractured.

The police are investigating the incident.

The death, the first reported shipyard and ship- repair death this year, casts a pall on an industry still grappling with a slew of workplace casualties in the past year.

Eleven reported deaths, including yesterday's, have been logged since June 8 last year. At least 20 other workers were injured during this period.

The accidents sparked a drive to improve safety standards in the nation's 89 shipyards. Efforts made include spot checks and an education drive.

Yesterday's incident was not the first at the PPL Shipyard, which specialises in the design and building of offshore drilling rigs.

In April 2007, a crane collapse there killed three workers. The shipyard was fined $135,000 for safety violations, though the court ruled that the breaches did not cause the trio's deaths.

Following yesterday's death, the Manpower Ministry instructed the parties involved to review and ensure safe work processes were in place before they allowed piping work to continue.