Man dies after accident at North-South Corridor worksite in Cavenagh Road
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SINGAPORE – A 41-year-old Bangladeshi construction worker died on Saturday following an accident at a North-South Corridor (NSC) worksite in Cavenagh Road.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said on Sunday that the man was struck by a pallet of gas cylinders which toppled during a lifting operation.
The worker was employed by Royale Construction.
The accident happened at around 10.45am, and he was then taken to hospital where he died, said the ministry.
The police said they received a call for assistance at 3 Mount Elizabeth – the address for Mount Elizabeth Hospital – at 12.46pm on Saturday.
Based on preliminary investigations, the police said they do not suspect foul play.
They added that investigations are ongoing.
The developer of the project is the Land Transport Authority (LTA), and the occupier is Leighton-Yongnam Joint Venture (LYJV), said MOM.
Leighton Contractors (Asia) Limited (Singapore Branch) and Yongnam Engineering & Construction were in 2018 awarded a $553.8 million contract by LTA to build a section of the NSC tunnel between Kampong Java Road and Suffolk Walk.
The project involves design and construction works that include 640m of twin, three-lane vehicular tunnels and the underpinning of an existing expressway flyover, Leighton Asia had said in a May 2018 statement.
An LTA spokeswoman said on Sunday that the worker who died was employed by a subcontractor under LYJV, and that no one else was hurt in the accident.
She said: “We are saddened by the accident and are working with our contractor to render assistance to the family of the deceased.
“LTA takes a serious view of safety incidents. All work activities at NSC worksites under LYJV were stopped immediately,” she added. “LTA and LYJV are assisting the police and the Ministry of Manpower in their investigations.”
MOM said it has stopped lifting operations at the worksite while investigation is ongoing.
“As a general safety measure, care must be taken to prevent any part of a lifted load from becoming entangled with any other structure,” said its spokesman.
Work on the 21.5km NSC, which starts in Admiralty Road West and ends in East Coast Parkway near Republic Boulevard, started in 2018, and is on track to be completed from 2027 onwards.
The corridor consists of an 8.8km viaduct and 12.3km of underground road tunnels.
Saturday’s fatal worksite accident means there have been at least 17 workplace deaths so far in 2023.
