12m-tall steel structure collapses in Tengah

She was in the living room taking care of her grandson when she heard thunder crashing in the distance at about 10.10am yesterday.

What followed was an unusual sound of metal cracking.

Madam Heng, 70, who declined to give her full name, said it was not until her son came home yesterday evening that she found out a 12m-tall steel structure had collapsed near a Build-To-Order (BTO) project construction site across the road from her flat in Bukit Batok.

No one was injured in the incident, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) told The Straits Times.

MOM said the incident occurred on land next to a proposed Housing Board development bordered by Tengah Garden Avenue, Plantation Crescent and Tengah Boulevard.

The steel structure was being erected when part of it collapsed onto temporary workers' quarters, which were unoccupied. No one is staying there yet, as the accommodation is still being built.

HDB said the incident happened on a plot of land next to the Tengah BTO site. There is a Temporary Occupation Licence for the plot, which is being used for the workers' quarters, storage and prefab works for the BTO project.

HDB has stopped all work at the site, cordoned off all affected areas and the occupier of the site will be developing a recovery plan, MOM said. It is working with HDB to establish the cause of the incident.

The site occupier is HPC Builders and the sub-contractor for the steel structure is Epoch Metal.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call for help at the construction site near the junction of Tengah Drive and Bukit Batok Road at 2.05pm, but no assistance was required in the end. It is not clear why the call was only made hours after the incident.

Madam Heng's son, Mr Tan, 37, who works in the construction sector, said it is unlikely heavy rain caused the collapse. Mr Tan, who also declined to give his full name, said he had paid close attention to the construction work at the site.

"It looks like it is a failure of the steel members. It is very lucky that there were no workers residing in the temporary living quarters at that moment."

The steel structure, along with another one like it, was put up only in the past week.

Mr Arjun Nair, a safety officer with experience in construction, said a number of factors, including the heavy rain, could have played a part. "It might be a design issue," he said. "The inclement weather might also have been critical."

But Mr Nair said it was also lucky that the collapse happened during the heavy downpour. "Usually when it is raining, most workers at construction sites stop work and take shelter. Had it not been raining, there's a high chance some workers might have been injured."