Commonwealth Culinary Creations fined $90,000 for bakery manager's death
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Chew Hui Min
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SINGAPORE - A local bakery was fined $90,000 on Tuesday (May 16) after one of its managers died after slipping and hitting her head at work.
Commonwealth Culinary Creations was fined under the Workplace Safety and Health Act for failure to ensure that its workplace is safe and without health risks to every person within the premises.
These lapses were found to have caused the death of the employee, Ms Shella Lee Shin Shin, who slipped on the production floor on Aug 21, 2015.
Investigations by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) revealed that the company failed to keep floor conditions safe, provide anti-slip floor mats, and install warning signs.
MOM's Director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate, Mr Chan Yew Kwong, said: "This is an unfortunate accident which could have been prevented if the company had taken simple precautionary safety measures.
"Alerting workers to safety hazards can greatly reduce accidents and cultivate a safety first mind-set among workers."
He advised that warning signs to highlight the wet and slippery floor conditions would remind workers to keep off the area.
Workers should also be required to wear anti-slip shoes within the area.
These were control measures proposed by Commonwealth Culinary in its risk assessment, which it failed to implement, Mr Chan said.
Ms Lee, 39, suffered severe traumatic brain injury from the fall and became unconscious. She was pronounced brain dead in hospital a day later.
She was wearing a pair of her own shoes with soles that were worn out, instead of safety shoes, in the baking area.
