SINGAPORE — A month-long order to cease installation work on the new intra-island cableway at Sentosa has been lifted, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in a statement yesterday.

The stop-work order was issued after an empty cable car detached from a haul rope on Aug 10 and fell more than 40m to the ground.

Work on the project has resumed since Sept 22.

The Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) said the mishap was the result of human error of an employee with the Austrian firm Doppelmayr, one of the contractors involved in the project, which specialises in ropeway engineering for chairlifts and cable cars.

In its statement, the BCA said the stop-work order was lifted as it was satisfied that all necessary mitigation measures had been implemented.

The SDC said the August incident was one that could have occurred only during the construction phase.

“The contractors were installing the communications cable using a temporary rope and the contractor’s employee did not check that the cableway line was clear before launching the cabins,” it said.

Since the incident, Doppelmayr and its contractor have taken steps to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.

As a new measure, Doppelmayr’s staff are required to obtain a written permit approved by two levels of supervisors before they can activate the system or carry out cableway modifications, said the SDC.

The permit to work would be granted only after the necessary safety precautions have been taken.

In addition, the key to activate the operations of the system would be held by the site manager, who would take full responsibility for any work that is carried out.

On whether further investigations have taken place, a BCA spokesperson said: “We have completed our investigations.

“We are studying possible enforcement action against the contractor based on our findings.”

The incident in August had also left a worker in another cabin stranded and dangling in mid-air for about three hours.

No injuries were reported and the trapped worker was rescued shortly after the cabin was moved to Imbiah Station on Sentosa.