Andrew Loh –
In the video that follows this article (see above), a worker submerges himself into a hole which apparently has flooded over. We are unsure how the hole became flooded or what the worker was trying to do by immersing himself into it.
The incident took place on 25 August at about 5.45pm, in an area in Yishun where upgrading works to HDB flats are being carried out, and where some new blocks are being built.
What we would like to ask are the following questions:
- Is this the standard operating procedure or task a worker is expected to undertake?
- In the video, the worker didn’t seem to have been equipped with any safety device before he immersed himself, at times completely submerged, into the hole. Is this a violation of worksite safety rules?
- The water in the hole is muddy. The water apparently reaches to the neck-level of the worker. Is there a risk of infection for the worker from bacteria or of him contracting soil disease?
- The water in the hole has, we would imagine, zero visibility. How does this help the worker when he submerges himself into it?
- Should not the hole be drained of water first?
- Is it allowed to send a worker into a flooded trench which apparently has just been excavated?
- What were the instructions given to the worker? And what was he suppose to be doing?
- Was the worker given a change of clothes after he had completed the task? Or did he continue to work for the rest of the day in his soaked attire? (We understand the workers worked till the night.)
The hole could have caved in, posing danger to the worker, although – from the video – the hole seems to be shallow. What if it was a deeper hole? In sending the worker into a hole with such poor visibility, the worker could have been caught and trapped underneath, or be seriously injured.
A reason why the worker was sent into the hole could be that they had dug a hole and the excavator hit an underground pipe by mistake and broke it and water started gushing out.
If this were the case, what are the procedures which should be followed?
In a report by Channel Newsasia on 2 August about worksite safety, it says:
“MOM emphasised that supervisors play a critical role to reduce work at height risks in our workplaces as they are directly responsible for many workers on the ground and can make the most immediate impact to how work is carried out.”
The report also says, “Over three months, MOM conducted inspections at over 2,000 worksites islandwide. More than 1,800 safety violations were uncovered at these worksites.”
In July, the Straits Times revealed that “fifteen workers have lost their lives in construction site accidents in the first half of this year, six in May alone.”
In a bid to reduce worksite injuries and fatalities, the Manpower Minister announced, in July, the creation of a S$12m fund which “companies can soon tap … to help them build capabilities in Workplace Safety and Health (WSH).”
But with such flippant attitudes of site supervisors and managers as shown in the incident in the video, one wonders if such funds will achieve their aim.
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The Online Citizen has sent this article to the Minister and the Ministry of Manpower.
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Below is excerpt from the Workplace Health and Safety Act:
Duties of employers
12. —
(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to take, so far as is reasonably practicable, such measures as are necessary to ensure the safety and health of his employees at work.
(2) It shall be the duty of every employer to take, so far as is reasonably practicable, such measures as are necessary to ensure the safety and health of persons (not being his employees) who may be affected by any undertaking carried on by him in the workplace.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of persons at work include —(a) providing and maintaining for those persons a work environment which is safe, without risk to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work;(b) ensuring that adequate safety measures are taken in respect of any machinery, equipment, plant, article or process used by those persons;(c) ensuring that those persons are not exposed to hazards arising out of the arrangement, disposal, manipulation, organisation, processing, storage, transport, working or use of things —(i) in their workplace; or(ii) near their workplace and under the control of the employer;(d) developing and implementing procedures for dealing with emergencies that may arise while those persons are at work; and(e) ensuring that those persons at work have adequate instruction, information, training and supervision as is necessary for them to perform their work.
(4) Every employer shall, where required by the regulations, give to persons (not being his employees) the prescribed information about such aspects of the way in which he conducts his undertaking as might affect their safety or health while those persons are at his workplace.
This is extremely awful. Have you tried sending the video to STOMP and see if they would put it up to highlight the worker’s safety concern?
The employer should be fined. Construction companies should be audited on their equipment and processes.
When they come cheap and are not given adequate protection in law, this is what happens.
Employers will exploit and abuse these cheap foreign workers simply because they can get away with it.
If the worker should die or be seriously injured, they’ll just be sent home, with a mere few dollars as compensation.
And the employer will then bring in more replacements.
We are truly third-world.
I have seen worst in Bangladesh, I think the worker are pretty happy the work here as shown in the video is just “Sup Sup water” only and they are paid so much more than in their own country.
I know the reason why the worker has to submerge into the water. The company failed to provide a pump for them, to pump out water from the hole they dug out. As you can see the crane was lifting a cement block from the water. Without a water pump the worker have resorted to submerging himself into the water in order to tie a cable to the cement block, allowing it to be lifted from the flooded hole with the crane.
Not bad, for every dive into the mud water, he gets maybe $2 on top of his $13/day cheap wages.
The trouble with these so call safety officials and MOM – clever to pin someone down if he flout a safety rule. All they do is “talk and talk down to you” ever ready to slap you on the face when we do something wrong. We have all these “foreign workers” to thank. I hope the boss of this worker who risk his life all for the sake of the company will be given a reward.
@Anthony Kwan
You are right. The supervisor should have used a sump pump to empty out the water to a further drain for the worker to carry out whatever works. Either that or hire a dive contractor to do the “underwater” works for you.
The company in question, together with the relevant supervisor and employer, will get fined by MOM under the WHSA if they get a hold of this footage.
only FTs from north india are treated better.
these soutuherners or banglas are treated with no respect by the singapore bosses who also treat the locals badly,even betraying them.
this is not a lie,this is the truth as already proven.
even some domestic helpers from philippines are more educated than those who work in shopping malls but the maids are treated badly and cannot apply for pr.
we are living in strange times led by a strange govt and strange singaporean bosses who look down on their own colleagues.
such traitors.
There may be specific Working in Enclosed Spaces legislation that may cover this violation of Duty of Care. Specifically, the worker should be equipped and trained in the use of breathing apparatus.
I still don’t believe Singapore deserves to be first world country.. It has displayed many third world productivity characteristics. If this video did not appear in TOC, I would have thought the place was from india.
this could be 1 reason why some sectors are having a hard time hiring locals. no welfare, no safety, low pay & low job status…
construction is one of the pillars of GDP growth engine, i doubt the contractor will be serverely punished. a slap on the wrist at most (i hope i am wrong lah)?
a fine too heavy, & whoever hired them will just pass the cost on…
Fine the contractor, put him in jail for endangering others lives.
This is the “True” meaning of “Cheaper, Better,faster as well as more Hard Driving”…..yes, thats what Oldman, the deaf Frog and many Employers are saying!!!
The “Truth”…they are “Cheap, Stupid, Non Complain,don’t know their Rights,easy to Bluff,easy to cheap, cheap to compensate,easy to hire n fire,little or no compensation” !!!
All these are “Devils” that deserved to be “Struck by Lightning” !!!
What for send the video to STOMP a media arm of SPH? They also do not give you the credit. I believed that once u send to STOMP, then the rights is with STOMP cos they stamp STOMP logo over it….
Guys. Don’t jump the gun if you don’t understand how the construction industry works.
As a person working in the construction, here is my answer to some of the questions:
1. What are the contractor site people doing.
Ans: Probably trying to see if they can stop the water flowing out from the underground pipe before informing the PUB.
2. Why?
Ans: Informing the PUB means they will cut the water supply of that area. And probably the author taking this video will suffer with no water supply for at least half a day or more. Then the contractor will pay the fine and damage to PUB, probably bankrupt them or complete their tender for free after paying damage and fine.
3. Are they safe doing this?
Ans: They probably think that the depth of this trench is still below the height of the person. Therefore drowning is impossible. Due to the size of the trench, it is also not possible for him to be washed away.
4. In this case, there is no danger?
Ans: not unless there is a electrical underground services beside the broken water pipe. But propbaly not, because if there is, no one will go down. Indian or blangah workers are cheap labour, but doesn’t mean they are stupid especially after a few years here.
5. Why this happened?
Ans: must be some “Kah Chiam Pu Teh” ah Beng contractor company, don’t have money to hire engineer or safety officer to advice them to do a underground detection before work. That’s why they are small time contractor doing this small time job like this.
6. They don’t care about safety?
Ans: no one is so insane as to risk the life of a person if the profit is good lah! Don’t know at the end of the month Ah Beng can pay his worker or not, still care so much meh?
7. If they don’t profit, why tender?
Ans: no choice leh. So many workers waiting to get their pay. Company also need to pay the bills like materials, milage, tools etc. And so many ah Seng and ah GAO contractor tender so low until jump down also cannot die. And Government project always choose the lowest one that hit the floor leh! They don’t even bother to question the contractor have enough money to do safety provision if they tender so low. Just award to the lowest only, then pretend not to see hear anything.
8. But how can the government know how much is low?
Ans: you must be crazy to ask this question, government Dept now all must have degree then can join you know? They usually has a cost estimate team, if not, later no budget how to answer tax payer? Therefore they know how much is too low and how much is too high after interviewing the contractor why they quote so high. But never interview when they quote low. Win already mah, why interview. Cannot do, fine them and get next better loser Loh!
Here are some more answer to the author:
1. Why no safety equipment huh?
Ans: the actual term is call PPE, stands for personal protective equipement. But if you are the contractor, what PPE you want to give him huh? Diving suit? With zero visibility?
2. Then why the worker go down?
Ans: my answer on top leh? But if you ask what purposes, I think he only want to rough check how big is the lobang, the position of the lobang to assess if there is anything they can do beside calling the PUB.
3. Why don’t use pump? They don’t have meh?
Ans: probably don’t have because this is not require for the work until accident happened. Likely to rush back to their kanji store to bring here. By the time, PUB come leh because someone complain no water from their tap. Even if they have a pump, got use meh? Maybe some of the smarter people here can tell me how to pump out water that is continue coming out until Johor dry? It is no rocket science lah!
Guys
You need to understand this! In construction industry, they are going thru a evil cycle. One cause lead to another. The start of this cycle is tendering of project. The right amount to do the project with safety implementation in place. But like I mentioned above, government Dept like LTA, PUB, HDB, National Park only choose the lowest tender. How to talk about safety? Who is evaluating the capability of contractor? No one. Because if they do, they probably have no one to do their project (government). Big time and smart contractor usually go for private project, that at least help to earn descent money. If you see the past accident, they are usually from government or GOvernment linked projects. Still cannot see the trend? And yet, government regulatory such as ministry of manpower just set in the regulation that all project must have safety provision sum. But no one is checking how much is allocated and how much is really used for safety. Their inspector usually checks on the site condition and paper work. But no one from MOM really send accountances to audit their account and expenditure on safety.
So, even if the author send the video to the MOM so what? It only help him to get more fine. Fine by who? Probably, MOM for safety violation, PUB for disruption to public services and cock up the job and finally NEA for allowing the mud water into the drain and cause pollution.
So who is the winner? MOM? NEA? PUB? or the author taking this photo and video and sent to MOM. Thinking he is doing the public a favor? But in actual fact, the cycle still continue until the next headlines?!
Do you know that now the construction is full of monkeys because the contractor can only pay peanuts. Not only that, construction firm require their people to work 8am to 6pm, 6 days week. You want to do meh? If tender is properly regulated, at least descent pay can be offered to the local and Malaysian that are more experience to work. Where are they now? Skill Malaysian foreman go back to Malaysia replaced by cheap Indian and blangah foreman that don’t even know how to do their work properly, don’t dare to call company HQ to procure necessary materials and tools. And always complain their lorry got this problem got that problem and local people like me need to solve for them before they can or willing to work. PRC engineer, simply take the last template, modified a bit and submit like his own. But did not check that the site situation is not the same as the previous project other than using the same method. Condition is totally different. Dispite already taught them how to do it. Still submit the same old thing and expect you to correct it for them. When you scold them, just pretend that he has overlook the submission.
So please leh. Don’t just jump the gun lah, ask the right question and wait for someone that know to answer them. Then refine the topic and discuss on the root cause. Appreciate those Singaporean or Malaysian (still stay in the industry) that is supervising the roadwork at night, so you can speed at the day time.
Build the building, so that you can have a shelter and enjoy your dinner and sleep. Don’t force them to quit their job on a already very hard life already. No point rub salt on the wound. The site people are usually the victim with minimum resources to work with and complete the work on time. Cheers
Thanks RED-man for the insights. Again we see its the MIW who is the main culprit for the sad state of affairs. This is a reflection of the quality of Leedership we have.
Folks, Singapore can never be first in safety. MOM will take on local companies but when it comes to MNCs the approach differs. Take a good look at the report on stop work orders. How many Oil and Gas, Chemical etc have been taken in for safety violations. I once called a Mr Jimmy of MOM to report a safety violation at Fullerton Hotel, in it’s early stages of renovation. The reply was I don’t have that much inspectors”.Now look at Sweden, Japan, Korea, and many others. Safety is a business but in Singapore the mindset is safety is not profitable. Safety here is just for show. Look at the compensation given out. It is better a to sue for libel.
Peace N Love
this is like STOMP! except more words…
personally, if the job is really to try to a cable to a cement block, submerged in water that is less than a person’s height… then, imo, ya…it feels like a STOMP article.
Robertson
It is truth they don’t have enough inspector. As a matter of fact, I was informed they hired “Green Horn” graduate from the University and go thru a crash course of few months and fresh from the oven go to the site as inspectorate.
Yet, MOM intend to further cover all “Workplace” to be governed by the Workplace Safety & Health Act. I wonder where they going to find so many inspectors that have already overloaded.
Currently, only industry such as construction, factory and chemical petrol is under coverage and focus of Workplace Safety & Health Act. Next year sept, places like shopping mall, restaurant, hotel will be covered.
Beside not enough MOM inspectorate, the other important note is that we don’t have enough Safety Officer also. Few years back, Government brought in and flood the industries with cheap and incompetence Safety Officer fresh from PRC and India. However, after the law changed from prescriptive based to performance based. All get frighten and many of them went back. You still can find alot of India safety officer in the petrol chem. They talk many many but Ali baba also many many. Their objective is to convert their india degree to NUS brand by going to some Master course. This effectively turned them into the valued FT and demand higher pay. If got problem, the most run back to their country.
RED-man,
Even if the contractor had really hit an underground water main pipe (looking at the sheer amount of water in the excavated pit), they ought to, under the rules and regulations, notify PUB immediately. In addition, I cannot see how, by asking a worker to jump into the excavated pit (note, an excavated pit without proper ground retaining support) can do to stop a damaged main water pipe from leaking further. Where is the RSO (for the benefit of those not in the construction industry, it stands for Registered Safety Officer) and his risk analysis? Unless of course, you are saying that it is a proper risk control measure to ask a worker to jump into the flooded excavated pit to stop a damaged main water pipe from leaking further.
In a tender, owners and consultants are reluctant to comment the excessive, if so, monetary provision for safety provision. Why? This is because:
1. in the event of stoppages to the works from MOM due to breach of safety provisions, the owner is the one who stands to lose in the end as no owner would rather levy liquidated damages on the contractor (probably through the much avoided process of arbitration or litigation) than to delay the completion of the project, let alone suffering poor safety reputation for the project, and
2. Safety provision is normally a few percentage of the total tender sum, so it is anyone’s guess that why would this particular item be a focus (and thus a potential cost reduction area) of the tender evaluation.
Echoing what you have highlighted, it is really time for a wake up call to the construction industry to stop adopting mal-practices, amongst others, utilising low cost labour and resources which does nothing to improve their productivity, so much so that they now can only rely on low cost labour and resources to render themselves competitive.
RED-man, 9 September 2010
how can 1 conclude based on assumptions?
based on your assumption, can i ask…
1) what are the standard SOP for fixing a burst pipe?
2) would water gushing out from a burst pipe not lead to pressure dropping? wouldn’t this lead to a supply disruption of sorts?
2) would the pressure of the gushing water make fixing of the pipe much harder? if impossible?
3) with zero visibility, who is to say that there is no way a man could be caught by debri, roots & prevent him from resurfacing?
4) how you know that worker who was submerged has been here a few years?
5) what if your assumptions is wrong?
i have 2 experience with burst water pipes. once at work, once in my neighbourhood. both instances the supply was cut off to facilitate repairs. the supply disruption at my workplace experinced a supply disruption under 3hours. the supply disruption experienced was under a few minutes. reality may not be as what 1 assumes it to be…
Dear Marcus Chng
You sound like a person working for the authority and I do have to admit you know generally about construction.
However, do you think this above project would require a consultant or clerk of work?? The way I look at it, they are doing some minor infrastructure work or landscaping maintenance at most.
Please read the requirement for RSO from the previous Factories Act and the current Workplace Safety & Health Act. Ah Beng contractor with a few india and blangah workers, you want them to hire a full time RSO and pay him $4500 ~ $5000 every month? He might only tender this project for $11K to $15K for such project.
I think you are trying to say Risk Management Regulations implementation. Since Government is currently extending the coverage under their legal arms to other industry such as services, transportation etc. How many of them know about Workplace Health & Safety Act, let alone Risk Assessment Management Regulation?
correction….
the supply disruption AT MY NEIGHBOURHOOD was under a few minutes. about 5 minutes most.
i was there to PUB officer point out which pipe had burst. he took a lift to the ground floor to shut off the supply & went back up to fix a collar, sealing the leak.
fyi, i wasn’t present to see what & how the leak was plugged at my workplace, i was working….
If MOM does not have enough safety inspector in Singapore, and they award so low price contract, the Minister is very incompetent.
The town council also never go and supervise. The Ministers, GRC, Mayor are very incompetent.
Singapore is run by People’s Incompetent Party. A lot of people but no brain.
Mice is Nice,
Here are my reply:
based on your assumption, can i ask…
(Note that Andrew Loh also wrote this based on assumption and yours too).
Only difference is that I am assuming on with the capacity of working experience in construction industry and simply explain to you why they work in this way and what are the affecting factors.
1) what are the standard SOP for fixing a burst pipe?
(Ans) There is SOP. But like I have mentioned, they did not expect this to happen and the SOP require special tools. They might or might not have it to start with.
2) would water gushing out from a burst pipe not lead to pressure dropping? wouldn’t this lead to a supply disruption of sorts?
(Ans) This is very technical, pressure drop or not, doesn’t really matter. HDB water supply is from the roof water tank which usually is filled most of the time. Don’t think it will immediately affect the resident.
2) would the pressure of the gushing water make fixing of the pipe much harder? if impossible?
(Ans) Like I mentioned, they have a special clip on bracket for this kind of repair. There is a way to fix it depending on how big is the crack. Then again, this is a unexpected event and therefore the “tool” is probably not on site.
3) with zero visibility, who is to say that there is no way a man could be caught by debri, roots & prevent him from resurfacing?
(Ans) Well, this is also your assumption. So, where does this come to an end. You ask ten person, each will have their own concern and give you different assumption.
4) how you know that worker who was submerged has been here a few years?
(Ans) For infrastructure contractors, underground detection is the basic knowledge. Everyone has been warned of.
5) what if your assumptions is wrong?
(Ans) My assumption might be wrong for this event. But tendering is the root cause of the problem cannot be wrong! You want to stop this kind of problem from happening! Improve the tendering system and assure that a $10 worth of item will not be sold at the price of $6 and somewhere the $4 will has to be absorbed. Like Marcus said, usually cut on the safety provision, or using poor materials to substitute the good one.
Take for example our current project with one of the authority. They estimate 9 millions for this project. Guess how much we tender to get this project? 4 millions. Now my site has to work with very lean budget (you can almost see the bone).
As if not bad enough, the authority site officer assume a lot and imposed a $2000/- for a common practice in the industry.
Ape can’t help but kaypoh a bit here after reading some of the comments made by RED-man.
It is possible that contractors dive their bids to win that contract then later worry how to get the job done… and try their luck if they can cut corners. They cut their contingency sum, safety budget an whatever that they could.
“Should I do cable detection? Nah… contract never state so. Should I prepare a pump in case the hole flood? Nah, put a plastic cover over it… use bucket if it really does. But just in case, I better buy some kimchua to paipai the tua peh kong”
But ape don’t blame the contractor/sub-contractor for being so lean because to them, bid high sure kena chop, bid low still got a bit of chance. So in order for them to be “hard driving and hard striving” and “to stick the spurs on their backside” they took chance.
When workers’ wages are dirt cheap, their lives are worth less than machinery (or pumps) in the contractors’ eyes.
RED-man, 9 September 2010
thanks for your reply.
eh, what points of mine are based on assumptions? i hope you can point them out to me, i based my points from viewing the clip.
as for point (2), you rightly claim that HDB homes have water tanks above, so how severe water supply disruption may depend on whether its peak hour- like during evenings when dinner is being prepared, people come back from school, work, etc.
from the clip (zero visibility leh), its not possible to see if the pipe (if its really the case at all) is cracked or a hole was driven into it.
as for being caught underwater, this is not assumption. this is a safety mindset. just like people are often told to report suspisious parcels or people. when people do report, its not assumption, its precaution. lol…
for point (4) so your point that workers could have been here for some years is moot? underground detection is basic knowledge? looks like this company fail…
that’s a big problem isn’t it? the govt is put in place to govt the country. now, the govt need a govt body to govt (verb) the govt?
i agree that this industry needs a major shake-up to keep it on its toes. only the govt knows why they take the softly softly approach & relegate safety issues way behind other issues.
leave a reply, 9 September 2010
that’s a good 1!
woah, i like your sense of humour. ;)
RED-man, I have to disappoint you. I was never a civil servant. I have ever worked with contractor, consultant and clients. You are right that there is no requirement for a RSO for the minor works, but sure there must be some method statement or risk assessment for any type of works? Sorry to hear that your company has to carried out the project at a huge loss, but the very fact is, a company with low productivity competing on price alone is doomed to foil some day.
All in all, it can be pointless to have an in-depth debate over issues like these in this open forum as I assume the majority of the readers are not from the construction industry, and hence any further debate might cloud them from recognizing the real issues that this industry is facing.
In conclusion, for readers with sharp eyesight, it should not be difficult to wonder (noting from 1 min 30 sec of the clip onwards) that besides the poor guy in the muddy water, what were the other workers doing at that point in time?
Mice is nice
(1) from the clip (zero visibility leh), its not possible to see if the pipe (if its really the case at all) is cracked or a hole was driven into it.
(Ans) This don’t have to assume, simple secondary physical will tell you that crack will not produce such a rush of water. As for how to repair a broken pipe with water coming out at this rate. Leave me your email, I will check with my engineer if he has the SOP.
(2) as for being caught underwater, this is not assumption. this is a safety mindset.
(Ans) as you have mentioned above that you based on the video, and you did also said it is zero visibility. Unless you have X-ray eyes and able to see thru’ the muddy water. It is qualified to be a “assumption”
(4) so your point that workers could have been here for some years is moot? underground detection is basic knowledge? looks like this company fail…
(Ans) I did mentioned that I am based on assumption too. Looking at the end of the video. This afternoon, after going thru the clip with my site supervisor again. He did remind me that the broken sum that was hoisted up using the excavator, might indicate that the contractor is not the one that caused the flood. Rather, it was someone that reversed his/her car and hit the hydrant. The contractor might be called in by the PUB to rectify the situation.
But we can argue until the cow come home. mice is nice, sincerely. I think you have no idea what is going on in the construction industry. I did not mentioned Government regulate Government. Please read carefully, I highlighted that:
1. Small contractor firm need to be evaluate of their capability before allowed to tender for project.
2. The contract sum tendered by all company for the project should be disclosed after it had been awarded. So we will know who are the one that is out to spoil the market and it is truth that the government selection is based on lowest sum. Most importantly the difference between the Government estimation and the selected company bid.
Marcus
I will only get disappointed only if a beautiful girl rejected my invitation for a date. So, that’s something you don’t have to worry.
For Risk Assessment, I think small time contractor don’t even know about it. Especially if their hirer is PUB, National Park or NEA. LTA lan lan cannot don’t know because of their nicole highway wayang, pretend what also don’t know (But all construction people know better). Why I know? because we have recently get some tree cutter to bring down the tree so we can proceed with our construction work. The risk assessment submitted by them was fantastic 4 or 5, you name it. 2 lines evaluate the whole process which does not mentioned about traffic control other than branches come down, keep clear. That’s all.
As for your mentioned what are the other people doing while the “poor” guy diving. According to the video, One is in-charge of hand over the tools to the diver. One is holding a stick on his hand, which my best guess is that in case something happened, he will pull the dive out.
At the same time, I would like to also answer Mice is nice why I think the diver is not a new worker. According to the video, he look very experience when demand the worker to pass the tool to him. I think this is not the first time he do this.
If you guys really want to know what safety rules or regulation they had violated?
“The most, using excavator as a lifting machine is illegal”.
But the video also indicate, the mitigated the risk by allowing the diver come out first, before lifting the broken sum out of the pit water.
Also I mentioned that the lower right corner person carrying a stick as indicate that they do worry the diver will drown. Therefore standby just in case.
Sorry guys, my mistake. The man is not carrying a stick. He is holding on to the lifting belt and waiting to pass to the other guy beside him to hook onto the excavator for the hoisting. Then the diver went down again to insert the key for the two workers on top to shut off the valve.
RED-man, 10 September 2010
i can’t help but feel your reply carry a rather defensive tone, eg., your latest reply, point (2).
i can’t see through muddy water, but 1 should not assume it safe to dive in to do what’s needed. this is where i think (yes, i think…) you misunderstood my point.
sorry but i am rather lost when you mention (quote):
“Looking at the end of the video. This afternoon, after going thru the clip with my site supervisor again.”
as a forum, i would have prefered people from all walks of life to comment based on their personal opinions. based on the clip & what you have mentioned, non-layman people like me still see some dots that are not connected, hence its only natural i have questions to ask. your assumptions as a layman only threw up more questions. hence, more dots to connect, lol…
I think mice,
We all know who is in the defensive mode. If you are a non-layman, that mean you must be a expert in construction. But I guess you want to say layman. You seems to be very eager win on this discussion, that you don’t even bother to check what you have type.
I am sorry, I am not as advance as you where obviously you have x-ray eye and speak banana language like connect the dot. I lost you at the “dot”. Don’t worry, if you are comfortable with the assumption that there is root inside the water. Please continue.
But we all know from the video, it is very obvious that the worker in the pit was not in distress. If you insist that you based on the video, then don’t assume out of the video. Thanks
Good Morning Folks, read all that has been written,Risk Assessment, Legal requirements and whatever. It is only used to get small players when they flout safety rules.Let us get real, just go and get MOM to evaluate this incident, the so called masters of Safety will sit on it and if it is one of their kind meaning than wait for years for the conclusion. If it is a small local firm than the poor guys has to come out with whatever shit MOM call Busineess Under Surveillance and whack them till they think is ok. I have in the past brought matters up with their top guys in meetings and even by phone, when it really matters not ven their directors will make a independent desicion. So folks between us, don’t be to hard. Get it from the MOM, the experts. As for cheap day returns I wouldn’t know about it. This needs talent. I am no intellect I see the ground and am writing from ground zero.
Peace N Love
The Banglah is actually a professional diver, so you people please don’t jump to conclusion. If you Singaporean go into the hole in diving gear the Banglah would laugh until his big toe drop.
RED-man, 10 September 2010
was your post under moderation?
very hard to talk to you if you can only see things from your own perspective.
i say liao, since cannot see through the muddy water, how can you assume there’s nothing there that may catch onto the “diver’s” clothings. if he was unable to re-surface to catch his breath, such moment may insuce panic, causing him to loose more oxygen. is this not a possible safety hazard?
the worker did need some time to catch his breath before diving into the water again, it goes to show its not some skinny dipping as you would have thought.
dun assume its safe if you cannot see (any danger) through the muddy water.
So what if my post is under moderation? What’s your point?
Yes, I cannot see from your perspective because I supervise excavation work on daily basis more than you do your paperwork in the office. There are more dangerous situation faced by a excavator operator or worker that you cannot imagine. But this? Chinese always say “haven’t see big snake urine before”.
Probably, if I were to carry your perspective to work. I am likely to be jobless. Everyday, when someone cross the road, there is possibility to be knocked down by a vehicle. So does that mean, we don’t cross the road and stay at home? You even risk choking a fish ball while having your meal, so don’t eat fish ball noodles? There is a difference between real risk and Paranoia.
I think that is what I have to say for this topic.
RED-man, 14 September 2010
i was just making a statement. i thought i missed it as “re-surfaced” after other posts appeared after yours.
dear layman, not everyone who have questions are also a layman. so please… be abit more understanding?
well, so going by your chinese saying, then why be surprised if others haven’t seen big snake urinating? just because you are accustomed to seeing certain aspects of work that is routine, doesn’t mean it applies to all.
if everyone is like you then almost everyone else would be issued a challenge (when questions are raised) just because he or she isn’t in that particular line of work to understand the inner workings?
i agree there is a difference between real risk & paranoia. but there too is a difference between taking things (safety)for granted & being cautious.
Does anybody think that this case could be the result of their bosses not providing correct tools and equipment and even if they do it may not be sufficient? For example, the water pump not provided; they were supposed to pump out the water but they didn’t.