Firm Fined $100k Over IR Worksite Death

The Straits Times ran this story on 27 June 2009:

Firm fined $100k over IR worksite death
By Elena Chong

A CONSTRUCTION company was fined $100,000 yesterday over a fatal accident on the worksite of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, where a brick wall collapsed on a foreign worker.

A representative of Lian Beng Construction, the occupier of the worksite, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a safe workplace on Jan 16 last year.

In the same court, Indian national Pitchai Alagarsamy, 40, the former foreman of Soon Li Heng Civil Engineering, was fined $800 - $200 shy of the maximum fine - for failing to work with Lian Beng to stop the wall from being backfilled.

This safety breach resulted in the death of Mr Xie Xu Han, 39, who died of multiple fractures.

Lian Beng was contracted by Marina Bay Sands to build the sub-structure for the three hotel towers on the site; Lian Beng sub-contracted Soon Li Heng to carry out the earthworks on the site, Ministry of Manpower prosecutor Danny Han told the court.

The accident happened while a basement was being built. As one part was progressing ahead of the other, a gravity wall was to be erected to demarcate and separate the work areas.

Investigations showed that a brick wall was erected to act as a formwork for the gravity wall.

Not supported with any other structure, the backfilled brick wall collapsed onto the Chinese national.

The court heard that a few hours before the accident, Alagarsamy had seen the brick formwork being backfilled with earth. He did nothing to stop it although he had been told backfilling should not be done.

Lian Beng's lawyer Raymond Chan said that, following the accident, steps have been taken to improve workplace safety. Under the Workplace Safety and Health Act, the company could have been fined up to $500,000.