He's dead, but at least he's wearing his safety shoes......

[macrosszero]

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/man-fined-8000-for-tampering-with-scene-of-fatal-workplace-accident

 

SINGAPORE – An operations manager at a container services firm, who was wearing slippers at work, died after rubber sheets weighing around 577kg fell on him in November 2018.

His colleague, Lim Choon Hwee, a director at Dyna-Log Singapore at the time, asked a subordinate to place a pair of safety boots near the body and remove the slippers, which were not allowed at the workplace due to safety protocols.

The subordinate did as he was told, but the act was captured by a nearby CCTV camera.

On March 20, Lim, 49, was fined $8,000 after he admitted to modifying the scene of the fatal accident – an offence under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

Dyna-Log Singapore was fined $200,000 for failing to take measures to ensure the safety of its employees – another offence under the same legislation.

On Nov 22, 2018, the victim, Mr Yong Him Chong, was at the company’s premises in Buroh Street near Pioneer Road to check the contents of a container.

He was wearing slippers at the time, which did not comply with the firm’s safety guidelines for such work.

A bundle of rubber sheets, measuring about 1.2m high and 0.8m in diameter, toppled out of the container onto Mr Yong, pinning him to the ground.

Ministry of Manpower prosecutor Mohd Fadhli said the bundle was not stacked in a stable manner and had likely been displaced during transit.

Paramedics who arrived soon after the incident pronounced Mr Yong dead at the scene.

Following an autopsy, he was found to have died of traumatic asphyxia.

The court heard that his injuries were consistent with those of victims pinned by heavy objects.

[macrosszero]

Want to "clean up" also never use brain. Whether the dead guy was wearing boots or slippers would have not made a difference to whether he would survive the half a ton of rubber sheets or not. 

He's lucky he only gotten an $8,000 fine for doing something so stupid and pointless....

[ER-3682]

  On 3/20/2025 at 4:59 PM, macrosszero said:

Want to "clean up" also never use brain. Whether the dead guy was wearing boots or slippers would have not made a difference to whether he would survive the half a ton of rubber sheets or not. 

He's lucky he only gotten an $8,000 fine for doing something so stupid and pointless....

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But Company Fined $200,000.00.

[Playtime]

Ok... it wasn't the director's fault he died. He didn't ask him to take off his boots.

And the accident definitely nothing to do with the slippers. 

Maybe he just wanted his colleague to get all the possible compensation benefits without anyone saying :"ah... see, he broke safety rules,  it's his own fault..." 🤔..  I've read similar stories. 

 

[Tkseah]

  On 3/20/2025 at 11:15 PM, Playtime said:

Ok... it wasn't the director's fault he died. He didn't ask him to take off his boots.

And the accident definitely nothing to do with the slippers. 

Maybe he just wanted his colleague to get all the possible compensation benefits without anyone saying :"ah... see, he broke safety rules,  it's his own fault..." 🤔..  I've read similar stories. 

 

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Yah.. insurance may try to use it as an excuse not to pay up..

[ER-3682]

  On 3/21/2025 at 12:18 AM, Tkseah said:

Yah.. insurance may try to use it as an excuse not to pay up..

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Insurance still need to pay out,maybe claim from Company later.?

[ER-3682]

Or Raise the Insurance Premium the next Renewal.

[inlinesix]

  On 3/21/2025 at 12:49 AM, ER-3682 said:

Insurance still need to pay out,maybe claim from Company later.?

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Insurance can deny liability as it is Company negligence.

After this incident, premium will go up.

Edited March 21 by inlinesix

[BanCoe]

Reality is so many Mom & Pop Companies are all doing it like that with workers hardly wearing any protection gear except like the big ones like CIAS , SATS , KD and big Orgs. where there is public moving in/ out and vigilance but the rest all are like “ Ali Baba” though from time to time MOM officers do spot checks but the rest will get tip offs when one Kenna spot check in the terrace units 

[Playtime]

Abit off topic... Something I came across long ago.

It's about the USarmy. 

It was asked why so many cases of training accidents etc that end up costing the govt millions in compensation.

Someone... Probably insider...  replied was that it wasn't always govt/army fault. The soldier could have spent his whole life serving the army faithfully, if it's concluded that it's the soldiers fault, rules are rules, he could lose his pension etc, that could have a devastating impact on his family... All because of a moments mistake. 

So the IO comes up with a conclusion of SOP fault etc... EVERYONE involved knows it's bulls**t, but it goes through, and the soldier is not blamed and family is taken care of. Right or wrong?.... Judgement call lor. I've seen my share of accidents in NS, all I can say is I understand the reasoning.

NOT saying it's what happened in this case ah... Just a perspective I feel worth sharing.

Edited March 21 by Playtime

[Jman888]

  On 3/21/2025 at 1:23 AM, Playtime said:

Abit off topic... Something I came across long ago.

It's about the USarmy. 

It was asked why so many cases of training accidents etc that end up costing the govt millions in compensation.

Someone... Probably insider...  replied was that it wasn't always govt/army fault. The soldier could have spent his whole life serving the army faithfully, if it's concluded that it's the soldiers fault, rules are rules, he could lose his pension etc, that could have a devastating impact on his family... All because of a moments mistake. 

So the IO comes up with a conclusion of SOP fault etc... EVERYONE involved knows it's bulls**t, but it goes through, and the soldier is not blamed and family is taken care of. Right or wrong?.... Judgement call lor. I've seen my share of accidents in NS, all I can say is I understand the reasoning.

NOT saying it's what happened in this case ah... Just a perspective I feel worth sharing.

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some people just like find rules to break lor, from home to school to army to office/work to public/road space 

[kobayashiGT]

Last time when I was in the army, if we are on duty, we never wear proper rig, straight away sign extra one. My encik don't care if your shoe is soaking wet or what. We never standby extra shoes is our problem. 

Going back to this. the director at the point of event, instead of resuscitating his employee yet only think of the breaching of safety, i find a bit not steady lah. 

I dunno how severe it is, but it is still one life after all. Can save is the best. 

[Playtime]

  On 3/21/2025 at 2:02 AM, kobayashiGT said:

Last time when I was in the army, if we are on duty, we never wear proper rig, straight away sign extra one. My encik don't care if your shoe is soaking wet or what. We never standby extra shoes is our problem. 

Going back to this. the director at the point of event, instead of resuscitating his employee yet only think of the breaching of safety, i find a bit not steady lah. 

I dunno how severe it is, but it is still one life after all. Can save is the best. 

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to be fair....

".....died after rubber sheets weighing around 577kg fell on him in November 2018." that weight falling from height is really no case liao.

"....found to have died of traumatic asphyxia."

i think it would be very clear it was gone case.... plus even if he tried, reporter may not have added in these details.

[Carbon82]

When an accident happened and MOM (or any other authority) step in, they are in to gather objective evidences, to aid in the investigation. Whether or not these evidences are related to the accident are secondary. And some times, many unrelated findings may point to a common root cause, the failure of its safety management system.

In this case, the defendants were trying to pin point that wearing of safety shoes will not have prevented the accident, but the fact that they swapped the slippers with safety shoes goes to show that the company know MOM is going to argue that if simple safety requirement such wearing of safety shoes were not enforced, how can the company prove that they have a robust safety management system?

Let me share my personal experience. I had a worker who injured himself intentionally so that he could use the insurance payout (>$20K) to settle his debt. I drink coffee at MOM from 9 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, without any lunch or tea break. I have everything they asked for, but eventually my company was still fined for something unrelated.

I was fuming at that time, cos it's not our fault that the worker get injured (he even go to great lengths to cover his trails) and we have all supporting evidences that the accident was infact an act of sabotage. But as years goes by, I fully understand why MOM is taking action against us. If our safety management system is not fool proof, how can we ensure our employees are safe while working in our premises? And usually the party to make this happen is the senior leadership team...

[BanCoe]

  On 3/21/2025 at 4:41 AM, Carbon82 said:

When an accident happened and MOM (or any other authority) step in, they are in to gather objective evidences, to aid in the investigation. Whether or not these evidences are related to the accident are secondary. And some times, many unrelated findings may point to a common root cause, the failure of its safety management system.

In this case, the defendants were trying to pin point that wearing of safety shoes will not have prevented the accident, but the fact that they swapped the slippers with safety shoes goes to show that the company know MOM is going to argue that if simple safety requirement such wearing of safety shoes were not enforced, how can the company prove that they have a robust safety management system?

Let me share my personal experience. I had a worker who injured himself intentionally so that he could use the insurance payout (>$20K) to settle his debt. I drink coffee at MOM from 9 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, without any lunch or tea break. I have everything they asked for, but eventually my company was still fined for something unrelated.

I was fuming at that time, cos it's not our fault that the worker get injured (he even go to great lengths to cover his trails) and we have all supporting evidences that the accident was infact an act of sabotage. But as years goes by, I fully understand why MOM is taking action against us. If our safety management system is not fool proof, how can we ensure our employees are safe while working in our premises? And usually the party to make this happen is the senior leadership team...

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True that ….. that’s why if SG MOM follow like OSHA(  US) …… all the blue collar jobs go to China/India/Viet ….. and Ah Trump talks about MAGA ….. same like Australia which used to mfg a lot back in the 70/90’s  now does not produce any Holdens 

[Sosaria]

  On 3/21/2025 at 1:19 AM, BanCoe said:

Reality is so many Mom & Pop Companies are all doing it like that with workers hardly wearing any protection gear except like the big ones like CIAS , SATS , KD and big Orgs. where there is public moving in/ out and vigilance but the rest all are like “ Ali Baba” though from time to time MOM officers do spot checks but the rest will get tip offs when one Kenna spot check in the terrace units 

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In safety circles, protective gear is the absolute last line of defense. There are safety procedures and risk elimination steps which are the better means of protecting people . Best means and first line is : common sense. For situation when there is no proper procedures.

Edited March 21 by Sosaria

[kobayashiGT]

  On 3/21/2025 at 3:27 AM, Playtime said:

to be fair....

".....died after rubber sheets weighing around 577kg fell on him in November 2018." that weight falling from height is really no case liao.

"....found to have died of traumatic asphyxia."

i think it would be very clear it was gone case.... plus even if he tried, reporter may not have added in these details.

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okay. hahaha. I just find the swap shoe part is redundant and is not respecting the decease. hahah. 

[Ahwhye]

  On 3/21/2025 at 6:51 AM, kobayashiGT said:

okay. hahaha. I just find the swap shoe part is redundant and is not respecting the decease. hahah. 

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Wearing slipper would be a clear and undeniable proof of failure to enforce safety protocol.

This guy probably thought had the slippers were not there, he could argue that the company had done whatever humanly possible to prevent accident and that things toppling is beyond control...