SINGAPORE: AZ Marine Offshore Services and its operations manager Soh Eng Bee have been fined S$200,000 and S$80,000 respectively after an accident at a shipyard in Pandan Road resulted in the death of an engineer in 2016.
In a press release issued on Monday (Apr 2), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said Pan-United Shipping had hired AZ Marine for the berthing of two of its vessels – PU2416 and PU3202 – at the shipyard and employed the engineer, Mr Lim Meng Hoe, to perform engine health checks and supervise ship crew for minor repairs.
Upon arrival at the site on Oct 31, 2016, Mr Lim crossed a gangway placed between the quay and bow of a vessel AZ Marigold, which was berthed closest to the quay.
“As the boats were berthed side by side with bows facing the quay, the deceased had to climb over at least four vessels to reach vessels PU2416 and PU3202,” said MOM.
In his attempt to climb across one of the vessels, his left hand slipped and Mr Lim fell through the gap and into the sea.
MOM said it discovered that AZ Marine did not provide safety instructions on vessel-to-vessel access within the shipyard.
“It did not provide any gangways or other means to enter or exit berthed vessels safely. There were also no designated crossing points between vessels berthed at the shipyard.
“As a result, persons attempting vessel-to-vessel access are required to identify a point to cross between vessels based on their own assessment. They end up having to climb over the gunwale and stand on the fender or fender tyres before crossing over to the other vessel.
“This is an unsafe method. With no proper handhold or foothold provided, anyone attempting to access the vessels were at risk of falling into sea,” said the ministry.
Authorities said Soh Eng Bee was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring workers’ safety at the shipyard, but did not take action even when he was aware that workers were entering and leaving the vessels in an unsafe manner.
Soh himself was accessing the vessels in that manner, said MOM, adding that by his example, he implicitly consented to the non-compliance of safe practices at the shipyard.
MOM’s director of occupational safety and health inspectorate, Mr Sebastian Tan, said the accident was “totally preventable”.
“Both the occupier and operations manager in charge of safety at the shipyard failed to ensure safe work procedures were in place to mitigate safety hazards and risks. Instead of flagging out the safety risks at the shipyard, Soh Eng Bee himself openly practised unsafe acts, leading others to follow his example,” said Mr Tan.
“Both the occupier and operations manager must be held accountable for their failures.”
