Summary of an Accident Investigation and Report

One of the first accident investigations I took up was that of a construction worker who fell seven storeys while working at a demolition of a multi-storey building. The worker was paralysed, and the company was directed to get their safety management system checked.

He had been given a double lanyard (Fig. 20) which consisted of two short leashes from his waist-belt to clamps at least one of which had to be attached to a dependable anchor while he was working. This was considered "100% tie-off", a requirement for good fall prevention.

Many causes for accidents may be classified as unsafe conditions by the management and unsafe acts by the workers. The managements of the scaffolding and demolition contractor involved were very experienced, so experienced in fact that they began taking certain short cuts and worker behaviour for granted, leading to both unsafe conditions and unsafe acts. The injured worker had been with them for many years, and he had chosen to ignore rules, and his supervisor had relaxed site discipline "because he was such a good worker".

Fig.20. Double lanyard

On that fateful day, allegedly he had used only one of the lanyards, and while changing location from one work platform to another, he had missed his step and fallen.

The company approached me five days after the accident to produce a report of their Safety Management System as required by the Government.

I visited the site three times, reviewed their scaffold design, erection and safety procedures, interviewed their supervisors and workers, and exhaustively analysed their plans and actions. I submitted a report with my findings and recommendations, which they had to implement before their stop-work order could be lifted.

My report was 23 pages long, with the following contents and page numbers:

A typical page of risk assessment violations noticed is presented as Fig. 21 as a sample.

Fig. 21. Sample extract from Table of Violations

Also is shown the 3 by 3 risk matrix, (Fig. 22) used to evaluate the risk for various activities from their likelihood and severity levels in the Table of Fig. 21.

 I also attached 17 pictures such as the two in Fig. 23, on each of which I pointed out various deficiencies.

This is one situation where you are paid to find fault! In fact, there is a strong third-party audit practice in Singapore, by which companies can find out their deficiencies and correct them before Government inspectors visit them and find them with much worse consequences.

My task ended with submitting the report with my findings and recommendations, because the case had already been heard, and penalties meted out.

Fig.23. Specimen photos from author's investigation or worker fall

It must be mentioned that this accident occurred before the Workplace Safety and Health Act was introduced in 2006, and many workplace practices were tightened up for greater safety, gradually replacing the Factories Act.