The crane was being used in renovations works taking place at No. 22 Pasir Ris View. Its boom crane crashed onto the roof of the adjoining unit just before noon on Tuesday.

The owner of the house, Mr C.K. Loh, said he was in his home with his wife and one of the couple's two sons at that time.

His other son was outside the house at the porch. No one was injured.

Mr Loh did not want to say much about the incident, but said he was going to 'leave it to the contractors' to do the necessary repairs to his roof.

There has been a disturbing spate of crane collapses this year. Two incidents happened in February and March at the National University of Singapore and West Coast Road respectively while a third took place in June at the Marina financial district.

Three foreign workers died and two others were injured in the NUS acccident.

The Manpower Ministry has taken a tougher stance on hauling companies which commit such safety breaches by taking them to court.

The heftiest fine was $135,000 imposed on PPL Shipyard in Pandan Road, for safety breaches which caused a crane to collapse in 2006, killing three workers.

Companies found guilty of safety breaches face hefty fines of up to $500,000 for each offence. Guilty individuals can be fined up to $200,000 or face a jail term of up to two years, or both.

The ministry is investigating into the cause of the latest accident.