On April 2, an offshore service company and its operations manager was fined $2,80,000 for an accident that claimed the life of an engineer in 2016.
What happened?
The AZ Marine Offshore Services and its operations manager Soh Eng Bee were fined S$200,000 and S$80,000 respectively after an accident at a shipyard in Pandan Road resulted in the death of an engineer in 2016.
Statement released
On April 2, a press release was issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) stating that Pan-United Shipping had hired AZ Marine for the berthing of two of its vessels – PU2416 and PU3202 – at the shipyard and employed the engineer, Mr Lim Meng Hoe, to perform engine health checks and supervise ship crew for minor repairs.
However, upon arrival at the site on Oct 31, 2016, Mr Lim had to cross a gangway placed between the quay and bow of a vessel AZ Marigold, which was berthed closest to the quay.
He further added, “As the boats were berthed side by side with bows facing the quay, the deceased had to climb over at least four vessels to reach vessels PU2416 and PU3202. In his attempt to climb across one of the vessels, his left hand slipped and Mr Lim fell through the gap and into the sea”.
Lack of safety measures
The ministry also discovered that the service company failed to provide to its engineers regarding safety instructions on vessel-to-vessel access within the shipyard.
The company had also failed to provide gangways or other means to enter or exit berthed vessels safely. There were also no designated crossing points between vessels berthed at the shipyard.
Furthermore, people attempting vessel-to-vessel access are required to identify a point to cross between vessels based on their own assessment and end up having to climb over the gunwale and stand on the fender or fender tyres before crossing over to the other vessel which was an unsafe method providing no proper handhold or foothold provided to anyone attempting to access the vessels and increased their risk of falling into sea.
Manager held accountable
The ministry stated that, “Soh Eng Bee was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring workers’ safety at the shipyard, but did not take action even when he was aware that workers were entering and leaving the vessels in an unsafe manner”.
They further added, “Soh himself was accessing the vessels in that manner, said MOM, adding that by his example, he implicitly consented to the non-compliance of safe practices at the shipyard”.
MOM’s director of occupational safety and health inspectorate, Mr Sebastian Tan, said the accident was “totally preventable” but both the occupier and operations manager in charge of safety at the shipyard failed to ensure safe work procedures were in place to mitigate safety hazards and risks. “Instead of flagging out the safety risks at the shipyard, Soh Eng Bee himself openly practised unsafe acts, leading others to follow his example. Both the occupier and operations manager must be held accountable for their failures.”
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Source: Channel News Asia
