Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,

19Apr 2000

The Department of Industrial Safety (DIS) of the Ministry of Manpower conducted a special enforcement exercise at a construction worksite at about 11.00 am this morning. During the exercise, officers from DIS conducted a thorough safety inspection of the worksite of Wee Hur Construction Pte Ltd located at the junction of North Buona Vista Road and Ayer Rajah Avenue. The contractor was constructing a 6-storey block to house an educational institution.

The inspection revealed various breaches of the safety laws. These breaches were severe enough to cause the death or injury to workers. The list of offences is enumerated in the table. Most of these offences were found at the main part of the building under construction.

Under the Ministry’s Debarment Scheme for Contractors with Bad Safety Record, the first five such offences would not attract any demerit points. However, one demerit point would be added to each of the following offences. In this case, the contractor would be issued with 11 demerit points.

The DIS inspectors also observed that these offences were likely to cause imminent danger to the lives of workers working there. As a result, a partial stop work order was issued to halt all work at the main part of the building. This partial stop work order would result in a further five demerit points to be issued to the contractor.

The Ministry would like to advise contractors to comply strictly with the requirements of the safety laws. Breaches of the law may result in demerit points being issued against them. This could lead to the contractors’ subsequent debarment if they fail to improve.