Singapore Construction company fined $170000 for safety

$170,000 fine?

Would Ali (the injured) who was not trained or supervised have done this before (install lifelines)?

Does that mean other workers had previously been put at risk?

Does that mean everything is done as a show or a tick in the box activity?

But let’s also be objective.

Who should install lifelines, how can they be trained to put them up (safely for themselves and others), who checks on lifelines after installation.

And before some paper pusher from some council or association says “More Powerpoint Slides”, let’s get real.

It’s not a tick in the box exercise.

It’s not about meeting some rule.

It’s about first having leaders (and everyone else down the line) who are intrinsically motivated to care for a fellow human being.

Then comes the skills.

The company was sentenced on Dec 9 under the Workplace Safety and Health Act, MOM said in an alert for the month of December. While the incident occurred on Aug 1, 2019, when Ali Mohammad Sohag, a construction worker employed by EC Builders, was instructed by his supervisor to inspect and tighten lifelines at a worksite.

"In the course of his work, he walked on top of steel bars that were placed on a formwork structure, he was not anchored to a lifeline, and subsequently slipped and fell from a height of 12m." said MOM Ministry of Manpower