Saved by Rubbish

A crane technician who fell 12 storey from a tower crane at a construction site from a height of 52 metres survived, thanks to a green plastic waste bin. Now, he is suing his employer Fes Engineering, the tower crane supplier Soon Douglas, and the main contractor and occupier of the construction site, Novelty Builders, for negligence.

Mr Wong Lim Kang (“Mr Wong”) was a crane technician with Fes Engineering, a sub-contractor under Soon Douglas. On April 13 2010, Mr Wong’s task had been to jack up the mast of a tower crane, and he had been helping to install a trolley jacking platform for a construction project situated at River Valley Grove, at around 2.50pm in the afternoon. When the hoisted trolley jacking platform was installed, it knocked against the work platform Mr Wong was standing on. The platform then dislodged from the tower crane, causing Mr Wong to fall down together with it. Although he was still conscious when taken to Singapore General Hospital, he suffered multiple fractures all over his body affecting his spine, pelvic area, rib and groin, amongst others.

Represented by HOH Law Corporation, Mr Wong’s claim against the three defendants was filed in the High Court on 5 March 2013. His claim will advance on the premise that his employer and main contractor had breached the Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 and the Scaffolds Regulations, which include the failure to take measures to ensure the safety of Mr Wong and other employees at work; the failure to provide an adequate or proper fall arrest system; the failure to ensure the proper erecting of the work platform and installation under proper supervision, as well as the failure to ensure the proper securing of the platform to the tower crane to prevent collapse.