TODAYonline

Out of a dark tunnel, 4 years on

Leong Wee Keat

weekeat@mediacorp.com.sg

FOUR years ago, they were the villains faulted by an official inquiry into the tragic collapse of Nicoll Highway.

The stark image of that low point for the company, published in every newspaper, was of its bosses bowed in apology.

Today, Japanese contractor Nishimatsu Construction is a company transformed — its rehabilitation complete in July, when its joint venture with local firm Lum Chang clinched the Land Transport Authority (LTA) Contractor Challenge Shield for safe worksite practices.

The theme was “Managing Safe Works at Height”, and Nishimatsu reported no such accidents, despite clocking 4 million man-hours on the Nicoll Highway andStadium Station Circle Line MRT project.

The transformation was not easy, acknowledged Nishimatsu general manager Masaji Chiba.

The morale of staff, some of whom had been with the company for more than a decade, was low when Mr Chiba arrived here from Hong Kong in 2005 to head the project.

Four people were killed when the Circle Line worksite collapsed in 2004. In the aftermath, Nishimatsu was fined the maximum of $200,000 after admitting that its design errors had resulted in a retaining wall at the worksite being too weak. Three former senior executives were also given substantial fines.

Besides low morale, there were unexpected personal twists along the way — Mr Chiba, who was also the project director, was diagnosed with cancer in July 2006, while the project manager had to have a stent inserted in a heart artery last November.

Mr Chiba said he stayed focused on his brief — safety and completing the project on time — and decided on a hands-on approach.

He visited the site almost every day for two years, with an emphasis on direct communication between workers and management. “My policy is face-to-face communication and it does not matter if you are Indian or Bangladeshi (worker),” Mr Chiba told Today. “Body language is fine, too.”

Workers who played safe got TeleVisions, bicycles

Other measures were also introduced to enhance safety at the site. A full-time safety officer was employed, replacing the previous practice of relying on an external consultant.

Instead of giving cash prizes, workers walked away with “motivational prizes” — such as televisions, DVD players and bicycles — for adhering to safe work practices and safety-promoting activities.

“These are big prizes so they have more of a ‘wow’ factor for workers,” said senior workplace safety and health officer Henry Ho.

Top management from the company’s head office in Japan also swooped in to conduct six monthly site safety inspections. Weekly checks were conducted on all safety harnesses, scaffolds and ladders.

This year, LTA had emphasised safe working practices in the annual safety convention in July for two reasons.

First, falling from height is the number-one killer in the construction sector: 24 fatalities occurred last year in the construction sector, of which 14 were related to falling from a height.

Second, analysis of accident trends on the authority’s worksites has revealed that falling from height contributed significantly to the severity of the accidents, even though there was no fatal accident in their projects last year.

While it may have won the award, Mr Chiba said Nishimatsu’s work is not over yet. The contractor says it keeps a close watch on safety, even though it will hand over the project to LTA next year.

“Whether it is minor work, dangerous situations may arise at any time and at any place,” said Mr Chiba.

Since the worksite collapse, the Japanese company has not secured any similar civil contracts here even though it has been involved in tunnelling works in Singapore since 1984. But it is not giving up and will bid for projects when the opportunity arises