The construction firm building the structure that collapsed on Friday morning (July 14), killing one worker and injuring 10 others, had been found guilty just three days earlier in connection with another accident at a construction site. In that case, too, one worker had died, while three others were injured. Before that, the firm Or Kim Peow (OKP) had received 25 demerit points from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and been blacklisted from January to April. The structure that collapsed on Friday (July 14) is believed to be at an early stage of construction, with the metal reinforcement bars still being placed. No concrete tear marks could be seen at the adjacent structures, which are still standing. According to the Land Transport Authority, preliminary investigations indicate that the corbels supporting the pre-cast beams had given way. A corbel is a structural piece of stone or metal jutting from a wall to carry a weight.
Shares of the mainboard-listed OKP Holdings slid when trading opened on Friday (July 14). They are down 7 per cent to 40 cents as at 9.20am. Earlier, on Tuesday, OKP was found guilty of breaches of the Workplace Safety and Health Act. The firm and its safety coordinator and site supervisor Victor Tan Kok Peng were fined $250,000 and $12,000 respectively for a workplace accident on Sept 22, 2015. Four workers fell 6.4m to the ground when the section of the working platform they were standing on under Yio Chu Kang Flyover dislodged. One worker died and the other three suffered injuries (fractures and contusions). The firm failed to ensure the working platform erected by the company was safe for use. Tan assigned workers not adequately trained and briefed on the professional engineer's (PE) design to erect the working platform.
According to the Manpower Ministry, the firm was engaged to expand the CTE/TPE/SLE interchange, which included structural, piping and finishing works for the flyover. Investigations revealed that the firm failed to ensure that all people involved in the erection of the working platform were trained scaffold erectors; the working platform was erected without the immediate supervision of a scaffold supervisor; and the firm failed to erect the working platform according to the PE design. There was also no warning sign/label displayed stating the maximum permissible load of the working platform at its access point; and Tan had assigned workers who were not adequately trained and briefed on the PE design to erect the working platform. In a media statement, the Land Transport Authority said the firm Or Kim Peow Contractors Pte Ltd was carrying out works to cast decking for the new viaduct when a section of the structure between two piers collapsed.
