Company fined $190,000 after worker dies while cutting tree

A cleaning and landscaping company was fined $190,000 after a worker died while cutting a tree.

Sin Eng Cleaning Services pleaded guilty on Tuesday for failing to take adequate safety measures to protect a worker who was cutting a tree.

The incident happened on Aug 27, 2015, around 2pm when Indian national Chinniah Ganeshan was using a chainsaw to cut a section of a tree, and a sawn-off section fell and struck him.

He fell from the tree but remained suspended in midair by his harness and lanyard, 23m above the ground.

He was brought to the ground an hour later but died of chest and neck injuries at the worksite at 4.20pm.

The company was hired to cut six trees over a few weeks in August 2015 at a vacant site behind 62 Kheam Hock Road in Bukit Timah, where the incident occurred.

Sin Eng had failed to conduct adequate risk assessment and establish safe work procedures, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement yesterday.

Instead, Sin Eng left its workers to decide how they were to complete their tasks.

The firm also failed to develop procedures for dealing with emergencies that might arise during tree cutting.

Mr Ganeshan was the only certified tree climber in the company and no other competent climber could help him during the incident.

Mr Sebastian Tan, MOM's director of occupational safety and health inspectorate, said the employer had severely compromised the safety of its workers by failing to identify and address the risks associated with the cutting of trees.

"MOM will ensure that errant companies take full responsibility for endangering workers' lives," Mr Tan said.