Worker's leg amputated after crane accident

A 37-year-old worker injured by debris when a floor crane toppled from the 12th floor of the building he was working on has had his leg amputated. He was on the ground floor at the time.

His colleague operating the machine, a 25-year-old Bangladesh national, was dragged along with it, and pronounced dead at the site in Mandalay Road by paramedics.

The Straits Times understands the injured worker was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and underwent an operation on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Manpower said its officers found serious safety lapses following the incident, such as many open sides that were not barricaded, posing a falling hazard to workers, and unsafe scaffolding at the project belonging to construction firm Greatearth.

A stop-work order has been issued at the site, which is part of Nanyang Technological University's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine campus. It is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of the year.

Yesterday, workers were tidying up the place, said a man present who identified himself as a manager.

A floor crane is usually used to affix window panes during construction, safety experts told The Straits Times. It is moved to the edge of a floor, and an arm is extended outwards to hoist panes up and down.

There were strong winds at the time of the accident. But it is not known how the worker was dragged along with the machine, which is remotely operated.

A spokesman for Greatearth said he could not comment on the cause of the accident, citing ongoing investigations.

Workers at all its sites have been given a day's break while safety checks are made, he said.

The families of the two men have been told, and the company is making arrangements for them to come to Singapore as soon as possible, he said.

Greatearth was fined $132,000 in 2008 for safety violations.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 19, 2016, with the headline Worker's leg amputated after crane accident. Subscribe