A 44-year-old construction was killed at a work site near Changi Airport on Wednesday after being hit by a steel plate. He was taken to Changi General Hospital where he subsequently succumbed to his injuries. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued a stop-work order to the contractor, Chan and Chan Engineering.
The police said they were informed at around 11.45 about the incident. They added that the man was found unconscious along Airport Boulevard. The police are investigating the unnatural death.
It is believed that the Bangladesh national was working inside an excavation near Changi Airport's Terminal 4, which is scheduled open in the second half of this year when the tragedy happened. "The work area is cordoned off and is not accessible to the public," a MOM spokesman told Today Online.
"The duration of the stop-work order is dependent on how long the company takes to ratify the safety breaches identified by MOM inspectors," the spokesman added. "Once MOM inspectors are satisfied that all safety breaches have been resolved, the stop-work order will be lifted."
A spokesman for the Changi Airport Group said that it is assisting the authorities in their investigation. "We are sorry at the loss of life due to the accident and are working with the contractor to provide assistance to the worker's family," the spokesman added.
The Straits Times reported that the worker was apparently building a high tension cable duct at the time of the accident. Reports said he had been adjusting horizontal struts, which held apart two steel plates as part of the duct's temporary framework when one of them gave way. The worker was hit by one of those steel plates that pinned him against another plate. His colleagues somehow managed to extract him from the plates later.
