14.01.2026

Scissor entrapment fatality

We have finally managed to obtain details of the scissor lift fatality that occurred in Singapore at the start of the year.

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has now released a few details. It seems that on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31st, a man working from a scissor lift had stowed it and was reversing through a doorway using the platform controls, when his back struck the top of a doorway and pressed him down onto the controls.

His colleagues rushed to his aid but quickly lost consciousness and died at the scene. We are still tracking a similar incident in Hong Kong during the first week of January.

According to an advisory from Singapore’s Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council, four people died at work in December while using ‘workplace vehicles’, including a forklift and the scissor lift.

It said: “In view of these incidents Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has urged companies to conduct a voluntary safety time-out as a pre-emptive move ahead of the seasonal rush around Chinese New Year.”

A safety time-out means taking a brief pause from work, especially when there are spikes in workplace incidents or emerging risks. MOM suggests that the time-out between now and January 27th applies to “not just heavy vehicles, but also other vehicles at your worksite, including forklifts and mobile platforms”.