The death of a prime mover driver after his truck fell into the sea at Keppel Terminal on January 31 marks the third workplace fatality in January 2023, said the Ministry of Manpower MOM on Wednesday.
MOM urged employers and employees not to take their eyes off the ball but to do all they can to prioritize workplace safety. The driver was a 44-year-old Malaysian employed by Handling System, according to the CNA's questions on the incident.
He was behind the wheel of a prime mover attached to a trailer loaded with two 20 ft containers.
His vehicle swerved to the edge of a berth, was decoupled from the trailer and fell into the sea, MOM said. His body was recovered from a depth of 14 m later that day.
MOM said on Wednesday that all levels of staff, contractors, and vendors should be provided with a Workplace Traffic Management Plan for companies whose key activities include extensive use of transport or goods vehicles.
All workers must be informed of safety rules, training programmes and safe work procedures. The first workplace fatality reported in 2023 was that of a worker who fell four storeys on Jan 12 while painting a condominium block in Bedok.
A 66-year-old Singaporean pump attendant was killed on Wednesday by MOM, which revealed a second workplace fatality in January.
The man was knocked down by a car exiting a pump island at around 1.16 am on January 19, at a petrol station along 61 Sengkang East Road.
The attendant fell and hit his head on the ground. He was taken to Sengkang General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on January 23.
We urge all drivers and pedestrians to be vigilant when using shared spaces. MOM said that people as well as potential dangers should be kept a watch out for.
The ministry said it was investigating both accidents and it had not yet uncovered any serious workplace safety and health lapses that would warrant a stop-work order.
It added that we had instructed both work site occupiers to appoint a workplace safety and health auditor to conduct a thorough audit.
In September of last year, MOM introduced a six month heightened safety period with tighter measures to increase penalties and improve accountability from company management.
The number of fatalities went from an average of 4.5 per month in the first eight months of 2022 to 2.5 per month from September to December.
The number of workplace deaths and save lives must be kept up by all parties, according to MOM on Wednesday.