21 Jan 2000

LAUNCH OF COURSE FOR FORMWORK SAFETY SUPERVISORS

The Ministry of Manpower's investigations into construction accidents involving collapse of formwork structures reveal that many of these accidents occur because of deficiencies in the erected structures. These deficiencies include improperly designed structures and lack of proper horizontal or diagonal bracings that stabilise the structures.

2 In many of these cases, the Ministry identified the lack of supervision by qualified personnel to be one of the root causes of the accidents. Qualified formwork safety supervisor plays a critical role in ensuring that formwork structures are erected safely, and in accordance with the professional engineer’s specifications.

3 To strengthen awareness and improve the skills level in this area, the Ministry has worked with the Department of Civil Engineering and Building of Singapore Polytechnic to set up a course for formwork safety supervisors. The Formwork Safety Supervisors course aims to reinforce the knowledge and skills of formwork safety supervisors in critical aspects of their work.

4 To be launched on 24 Jan 2000, the course consists of three modules and will last a total of 30 hours. Topics that will be covered in the course include:

• Roles and responsibilities of supervisors
• Fundamentals of formwork construction
• Strength of materials/shoring
• Interpretation of construction design drawings
• Case studies

5 Application forms for the course are available at the Department of Industry Services, Singapore Polytechnic's Continuing Education Centre at Block 19, 500 Dover Road, Singapore 139651. Interested persons may also collect application forms from the Ministry's Occupational Safety and Health (Training & Promotion) Centre, Block C, 120 Kim Seng Road, Singapore 239436.

6 For more information, kindly contact Mr Tang Ah Lek, Senior Lecturer, or Mr Tan Poh Seng, Lecturer, Singapore Polytechnic at Tel: 870 6117 or 870 6115 respectively. Alternatively, Mr Yeong Chark Sung of the Occupational Safety and Health (Training & Promotion) Centre can be contacted at Tel: 737 8982.