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None of the tower cranes checked were found to be faulty, a MOM spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday.
But the issue of crane safety is being kept in the public spotlight because just three weeks after the deadly accident, another crane - 27m tall and weighing 70 tonnes - toppled near West Coast Road, crushing a pedestrian walkway. No one was hurt.
In last month's accident, all four anchors of the crane parked at a National University of Singapore worksite simply snapped, sending the crane over. Besides the three workers who died, two others were injured.
The MOM spokesman said the stop-work order on the NUS site was lifted last Tuesday.
Lifting equipment such as cranes were responsible for 11 of the 24 deaths in the construction industry last year, just one shy of the previous year's 12, which was believed to be the highest in five years.
The annual number of workers injured by such equipment is not available.
Crane safety is an issue being tackled by the Workplace Safety and Health Advisory Committee (WSHAC), which oversees safety and health standards across a number of industries.
The panel is expected to announce its plans to reduce on-site risks posed by cranes when last year's workplace safety and health statistics are unveiled next week, said MOM.
The two crane accidents that happened in short order have rattled some nerves and tripped off speculation that pressure from the current construction boom may have led some companies to cut corners with safety.
The Building and Construction Authority estimated that between $23 million and $27 million in construction contracts will be awarded by the end of the year.
Industry sources conceded that the boom in the number of jobs is a strain, especially on smaller companies, which are more vulnerable to the rising costs of raw materials and resources.
Mr David Ng, a director of crane-leasing company Tat Hong, said the industry is also facing a crunch in the number of skilled workers such as crane operators.
Both the Singapore Contractors Association and the WSHAC, dismissing speculations about compromises on safety, said it did not make sound business sense to take such shortcuts.
WSHAC chairman Lee Tzu Yang said: 'Workplace accidents can lead to stop-work orders, extended down-time and loss of reputation.'
Nonetheless, the construction industry accounted for nearly four in 10 - or 24 out of 63 - of last year's workplace deaths.
MOM could not confirm the number of construction worker deaths this year, but at least eight have been reported killed.
MOM also issued 14 stop-work orders against construction companies which had failed to put safety measures in place.
WSHAC wants to trim the workplace-related death rate to 2.5 for every 100,000 workers by 2015.
Last year's figure was 2.9 per 100,000 workers, down from 2006's 3.1 and 2004's 4.9.
It puts the country well on track to achieving its 2.5 goal, said MOM Senior Parliamentary Secretary Hawazi Daipi. He added that if the goal is reached before 2015, the bar could be set even higher.
