Death of migrant worker who fell 4.7m at Shaw Plaza ‘an unfortunate workplace accident’: Coroner
SINGAPORE — It was only when a worker fell through a partition board 4.7m to the floor below and suffered fatal injuries that other workers, including a safety supervisor, realised that part of the floor they had been working on was not solid, a coroner said on Thursday (Dec 3).
- Indian national Ramakrishnan Ravichandran fell 4.7m through a partition board
- He had been clearing debris at a worksite in Shaw Plaza along Balestier Road
- Ramakrishnan suffered fatal injuries in the fall
- A coroner ruled it an unfortunate workplace accident
- Safety measures were not taken to alert workers of the danger, he said
SINGAPORE — It was only when a worker fell through a partition board 4.7m to the floor below and suffered fatal injuries that other workers, including a safety supervisor, realised that part of the floor they had been working on was not solid, a coroner said on Thursday (Dec 3).
A barricade previously installed around the area was also missing on the morning of Nov 14 last year when 30-year-old Indian national Ramakrishnan Ravichandran met with the accident. He had been clearing debris at the worksite at Shaw Plaza along Balestier Road.
After outlining the circumstances leading to the fall from the ground floor to the basement below, Coroner Prem Raj ruled that Ramakrishnan’s death was “an unfortunate workplace accident”.
A safety coordinator performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the worker until an ambulance arrived and took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Ramakrishnan was pronounced dead later that morning at the emergency department of the hospital.
An autopsy revealed that he died from multiple injuries, which included fractures of the skull, sternum and ribs.
‘NO ONE’ KNEW OF THE DANGER
Ramakrishnan was employed by Express 21, an electrical engineering and cabling projects firm subcontracted to perform works at Shaw Plaza by the building’s occupant.
Having worked for about 10 years in Singapore, he was regarded as a senior worker. He had been working at that site for a few weeks.
On the day of the accident, Ramakrishnan and two other workers were told by a safety supervisor to remove dismantled electrical wires and trunkings on the second floor of the building.
The two workers threw the debris down from the second floor into a pit on the ground floor, which used to house a lift and a motor. Ramakrishnan was on the ground floor to ensure that the debris would not hit anyone.
When a lorry arrived to pick up the debris for disposal, the two workers went to the ground floor to help Ramakrishnan transfer the wires to the lorry.
As they were doing that, one of the workers suddenly heard a loud noise “like a wooden plank breaking near him” and saw that Ramakrishnan had fallen into a hole at the side of the pit, the coroner said.
The two workers rushed to the basement and saw Ramakrishnan's motionless body lying face down. He was wearing his safety helmet.
His safety supervisor, who was also from Express 21, along with the main contractor’s safety coordinator, were alerted and an ambulance was called.
In his findings, Coroner Prem said that safety measures were not taken to warn the workers about the dangers of falling through the partition boards surrounding the pit.
These gypsum boards, commonly known as drywall, are made with gypsum plaster pressed between two sheets of paper and are unable to withstand a person’s weight.
He added that a barricade that had been previously installed to prevent workers falling through the pit had been replaced with orange netting before the day of the accident.
Investigations could not establish who removed the barricades or when it happened, he said.
That netting, the coroner said, was “probably” removed by Ramakrishnan in the process of removing the debris from the pit.
The area was also covered by a layer of concrete dust from previous hacking and demolition work. Workers testified that because of that, the solid concrete beams and the fragile drywall were indistinguishable.
“No one, therefore, knew about the presence of fragile surfaces in the building and hence of the danger these surfaces could pose,” Coroner Prem said.
He added that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is “contemplating taking action” against Express 21 and the building’s occupant under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.
TODAY has sought more details from MOM.