Seven shipyard deaths in 7 weeks

Two more workers die while preparing to ventilate an LPG vessel's tank
Teh Joo Lin, Straits Times 24 Jul 08;

THE death toll in the shipyard and repair industry has risen to seven since June 8, with two more workers dying yesterday afternoon.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the two men were believed to have fallen into a tank in a ship. The Formosagas 3, a Liberia-registered liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker, was anchored in the Western Anchorage in Singapore's southern waters.

The cause of death is still being investigated, but the accident happened while six workers were preparing to ventilate the tank, which was 3m deep.

The ship was anchored at the Western Anchorage while waiting for its next assignment, following repairs that were completed on July 9 at ST Marine's shipyard in Tuas.

But the ship's crew apparently wanted additional repairs done and yesterday afternoon's work was to ventilate the tank before it returned to the shipyard.

It is unclear how the accident happened or what caused the workers to fall in.

According to MOM, which has stopped all work on the ship, ventilation work does not involve any workers entering the tank.

It is not known what the oxygen level in the tank was, or if there were other toxic fumes present at that time.

The workers, a 35-year-old Malaysian and a 25-year-old Indian national, hired by a subcontractor of ST Marine, a shipyard with an international customer base in the naval and commercial markets.

It is believed the Indian national fainted and fell into the tank first and his Malaysian colleague was trying to rescue him when he also fell.

After the accident, a tugboat took the casualties back to shore.

The two latest deaths bring the death toll in shipyard accidents in the last seven weeks to seven. Eighteen more have been hurt.

The casualties prompted an education drive by the industry-led Workplace Safety and Health Council and the Association of Singapore Marine Industries, to raise safety standards.

The MOM also launched inspections into the 89 shipyards here.

When contacted, Madam Halimah Yacob, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, had strong words on the seven deaths in less than two months.

It was a 'cause for alarm', she said.

'I think what's happening is that although the precautions and inspections have been stepped up, there's a need to look at how this can be improved in making sure every worker down the line understands safety.

'It's not really sunk in. Accidents don't just happen. They are created due to human error, negligence or oversight.'