04.11.2019

Fatal tower crane incident in Singapore

A luffing jib tower crane boom/jib came down on a jobsite in the Novena area of Singapore this morning, killing one man and injuring another.

The crane, owned by Crane World Asia and on rent to the contractor LKT, was working for main contractor Kajima Contractors and said to be lifting scaffold components weighing around 300kg at the time of the failure. It would appear as if the failure is due to a luffing jib rope or pendant failure, but we have not been able to confirm this.

The man, Velmurugan Muthian, an Indian national, 28, was thought to have been underneath the crane when the jib came down and was declared dead at the scene. The other man, a 35 year old from Bangladesh suffered a leg injury. The police are investigating the incident.
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The crane operator was able to descend from the crane some 20 minutes after the incident occurred.

The job is a new 17 storey rehabilitation complex for the Tan Tock Seng Hospital. We will update this item if and when we learn more.

UPDATE

Almost a year later Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has published a Learning Report and the following statement Click here to go directly to the report which can be read online or downloaded free of charge

"In consultation with the industry, MOM has published a Learning Report on the accident to alert the industry on the learning points and prevent recurrences. It was found that the tower crane's Erection Ropes are at risk of becoming entangled with the fixed structure of the crane during lifting operations. The entanglement will prevent the jib from being lowered properly. MOM recommends that the Erection Ropes should be removed or disconnected after the jib installation instead of leaving it on the crane. This is to eliminate any risk of accidental entanglement of the Erection Ropes with any fixed structure of the tower crane."

"While investigations are still ongoing, we urge the industry to consider the learning points, and adopt safe practices in the installation, dismantling, maintenance, and safe operation of tower cranes."