2 workers killed in separate shipyard incidents on same day
Two workers were killed in separate workplace accidents last Wednesday. One was hit by a rudder while another was crushed by a cargo container.
The first incident happened at 51 Pioneer Sector 1, the location of Keppel Shipyard.
A group of workers were installing a rudder at the rear of a vessel when the rudder suddenly swung. It hit a 36-year-old Indian national, causing him to fall. The man, believed to be a mechanical supervisor, died at the scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said he was employed by Keppel Shipyard, which has been instructed to stop all installation of rudders across the yard.
In the second incident last Wednesday, a 20-foot cargo container was being lowered onto a ship by a crane at Pasir Panjang Terminal 6.
A 33-year-old Indian national, a logistics worker, somehow became trapped and pinned down by the container. He was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries.
WEIGHT
Such containers typically weigh 2,000kg when empty and 25,000kg when full. It is not known if the container was filled at the time.
The spokesman said the occupier of the site is PSA Corp, and the man was employed by Big-Foot Logistics.
PSA Corp has been instructed to review its work processes and that of its contractors.
MOM is investigating both incidents. These are the ninth and 10th reported workplace deaths here this year.
They happened on the day MOM released its data on workplace safety, which showed that workplace fatalities had fallen to a 15-year low.
There were 39 workplace fatalities last year, or 1.1 per 100,000 workers. This is the lowest since 2004, when records were first compiled and is in spite of a spate of nine deaths last November.
MOM conducted some 17,000 inspections last year. It uncovered more than 8,900 contraventions, issued 58 stop-work orders with an average duration of six weeks, and fined almost 1,000 companies more than $1.4 million in total.
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