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Company fined $190,000 over tree-felling incident that killed its worker

Singapore State Courts (PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)
Singapore State Courts (PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE - A section of a tree that a worker was cutting fell on him. The 45-year-old Indian national, who died as a result of the impact, was suspended from the tree for an hour before he was brought down.

On Tuesday (24 September), the company that Chinniah Ganeshan was working for was fined $190,000 after it pleaded guilty to one count of failing to ensure the safety and health of its employees.

Sin Eng Cleaning Services, a landscaping company, failed to conduct adequate risk assessment and safe work procedures for tree pruning and cutting activities, said a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) prosecutor. It also failed to establish proper emergency rescue procedures and these oversights led to Chinniah’s death on 27 August 2015, the prosecutor added.

Chinniah and two other co-workers were tasked by Sin Eng to fell an Albizia tree at a vacant state land behind 62 Kheam Hock Road. Chinniah was cutting a section of the tree with a chainsaw when he was struck by it.

The worker fell from the tree and remained suspended by his harness at a height of about 23 metres.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force personnel appeared at the scene but were unable to rescue Chinniah as tree climbing was a specialised activity. An hour after Chinniah was hit, a landscaping contractor who happened to be working nearby was able to bring the victim down to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the site at about 4.20pm.

According to court documents, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had engaged Ho Eng Huat Construction (HEH) for tree maintenance services and the SLA required the company to provide two certified tree climbers. HEH sub-contracted the work to Sin Eng. Chinniah was hired by HEH and he was tasked to assist Sin Eng on the day of the incident.

Sin Eng initially intended to fell the Albizia tree using a lorry crane with a bucket. It decided to have Chinniah manually fell the tree as the pathway for the vehicle was blocked.

The company had failed to identify risks related to the tree felling works and ensure control measures were in place when Chinniah was carrying out his duty, said MOM prosecutor Lee Kui Bao. Chinniah himself had to assess the safety situation on the ground, Lee added.

In addition, the company also had no procedures to deal with an emergency situation during tree felling including having at least two trained workers on site.

Seeking a fine of $220,000, Lee said that tree-climbing and tree-cutting were high-risk tasks.

The company’s lawyer, Cory Wong, asked for a fine of not more than $134,000.

Wong cited the coroner’s findings for Chinniah’s death, which found that the worker was competent to climb trees manually using rope.

The findings assessed that Chinniah most likely made a wrong judgement call in cutting the fallen section of the tree, which resulted in the section breaking and falling in a different direction from what he had expected.

Sin Eng could have been fined up to $500,000 for the offence.

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