Vehicular Incidents at Construction Worksites

Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower (a) what is the number of accidents involving lorry cranes in construction worksites that took place over the last three years; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider implementing a new safety standard for new lorry cranes to have at least European, American or equivalent safety standards before they are allowed to be used.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Lorry cranes are used by a variety of industries for purposes including roadside landscaping works, lifting of materials at construction worksites and loading and unloading of goods. There are close to 3,500 lorry cranes registered with MOM.

From 2009 to 2011, there were four fatalities involving lorry cranes. One death occurred in the construction industry and the others in the manufacturing, logistics and transport, and landscaping industries. Forty-one non-fatal lorry crane-related injuries were also recorded during the same period. 5

Fatalities and injuries involving lorry cranes comprise a small proportion of all workplace accidents (2% of total fatal cases and 0.1% of non-fatal cases). 6 However, crane operations have the potential to cause serious accidents involving fatalities to workers and members of the public. For instance, in one of the incidents, a lorry crane struck a bus and killed a passenger on board.

A review of the safety of lorry crane operations was therefore conducted in 2010 as part of a larger industry-wide review of all crane operations at workplaces. The review concluded that the primary cause of the majority of lorry crane accidents was weakness in operator proficiency, rather than the adequacy of the design or integrity of the equipment. To address this, MOM recently announced a new requirement under the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) (Operation of Cranes) Regulations 2011. All lorry crane operators will have to be certified under a new training course aimed at enhancing safe operation of cranes. This requirement is scheduled to take effect in September 2013 to give the industry sufficient lead time to attend the training course. The new course was developed by the WSH Council, in consultation with industry stakeholders.

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Upon completion of the course, new lorry crane operators will have to pass a competency test before they are allowed to operate lorry cranes. Experienced lorry crane operators may be allowed to take the competency test directly if requirements are met.

MOM has in place a regulatory regime for companies that utilise all cranes, including lorry cranes. This includes explicit safety provisions to ensure that cranes are of good construction, sound material and adequate strength for their safe use at workplaces. Lorry cranes are also required to undergo yearly statutory examinations and tests conducted by authorised Professional Engineers to revalidate and recertify the structural and mechanical integrity of the lorry cranes for their continual safe use at workplaces. In addition, the WSH Act imposes specific duties on manufacturers and suppliers of hazardous equipment, including lorry cranes, to ensure in a reasonably practicable manner that the lorry cranes are safe and without risk to health when properly used.

The Ministry will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with the industry stakeholders to improve the safety of operations of lorry cranes at workplaces. In addition, we have been and will continue to review the need to develop new safety standards, taking reference from experience in various developed economies, and implement new safety standards where relevant.