Jail for site superintendent who used 'improvised' method to erect scaffold that collapsed and injured 9 workers

SINGAPORE — A site superintendent of a scaffolding company was sentenced to six months’ jail on Tuesday (March 21) for failing to ensure the stability of a scaffold, which led to nine workers getting injured when the 9m-high platform they were working on collapsed.

The injuries, according to court documents, ranged from minor abrasions to fractured bones and broken teeth. There were no fatalities.

In all, 39 scaffold erectors had been deployed to work on the scaffold, and they were all exposed to the same risks as their injured counterparts, said prosecutors from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Jayaraman Sankaran, 53, had earlier contested a single charge related to committing an act of negligence under the Workplace Safety and Health Act. The Malaysian was eventually found guilty and convicted of the charge on Nov 18 last year.

Court documents showed that the scaffold collapse took place on Jan 27, 2017 within the worksite of Horizon Singapore Terminals, a container terminal located along Meranti Crescent on Jurong Island.

At the time, Jayaraman was carrying out works at the location as a site superintendent under the employ of Multiheight Scaffolding. It was not stated if Jayaraman is still employed with the company.

As part of Multiheight’s duties, the company, which also employed the injured scaffold erectors, was required to erect one around a structure labelled as Tank 208.

During Jayaraman’s cross-examination, he admitted that he had not only given instructions for the erection of the scaffold — which was meant to reach 20m high — but also how it should be done.

However, according to MOM prosecutors Nur Ishameena and Kimberly Boo, Jayaraman’s orders were "inherently dangerous" as it involved an improvised method of erecting individual scaffold towers.

The prosecutors said Jayaraman had instructed that individual scaffold towers be constructed and joined together.

In contrast, the safe method of building the scaffold was to complete one or two layers or levels in a ring before building the subsequent layers.

Investigations by both MOM and Multiheight also found that the construction was done without any safety measures such as rakers, buttresses or tie backs to ensure the stability of the scaffold.

It was also revealed that the improvised method was used by Jayaraman because Multiheight had to erect scaffolds "within a specified, albeit tight deadline", though the prosecution said this motivation to save time only serves as an aggravating factor.

In any case, they said there were a significant number of people involved in the construction of the scaffold, and its collapse is a "clear indication of the scale of potential harm".

In addition, there were other structures present that would "present a hazard" if a worker fell on them, said the prosecutors, who sought a jail term of between eight and 10 months.

"It was only fortuitous that no fatality resulted from the accused’s negligent act."

For his offence, Jayaraman could have been fined up to S$30,000 or jailed up to two years, or both.