Repeated safety lapses were uncovered at the Hillview Peak worksite on three separate occasions.
Kingsford Construction has been fined $130,000 for multiple, repeated safety lapses at its Upper Bukit Timah site, revealed the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
The construction firm was carrying out construction works at the Hillview Peak condominium, reported Channel NewsAsia.
In June 2016, MOM’s Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate uncovered the same safety lapses committed by the firm during two previous inspections in 2014 and 2015.
The lapses, among others, included open sides that were not guarded by barriers or guardrails, staircases with no handrails and staircases that had no emergency lighting in case of a power failure.
Kingsford was issued a stop-work order (SWO) and fined $10,000 in 2014. For the same lapses uncovered in 2015, the firm was fined $19,000 and issued a partial SWO.
With its “repeated failures and recalcitrant attitude”, the firm was charged under the Workplace Safety and Health Act for its failure to “take reasonably practicable measures to ensure the safety and health of its employees”, the ministry said.
MOM’s director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate Chan Yew Kwong explained that the ministry “sought a heavy penalty because of Kingsford’s blatant disregard for safety and its repeated failures to comply with our regulatory requirements”.
“Companies must address all safety failures identified during a MOM inspection and put in place effective measures to prevent recurrence. They should not put their workers’ lives at risk and wait for an accident to happen before taking safety seriously,” he added.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
