Jurong Shipyard has been fined SGD 400,000 ($294,000) over a 2012 incident in which a jack-up rig newbuilding tilted injuring 89 people.
The rig builder was fined under the Workplace Safety and Health Act for “failing in its duty to take reasonable measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of employees employed by contractors of the oil rig under construction”.
Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MoM), which imposed the penalty, said the heavy fine reflected the “very serious safety breaches” by Jurong Shipyard which had “put at risk the lives of 1,000 workers on board the oil rig at the time of the accident”.
At about 10:30 am on 3 December 2012 the rig tilted suddenly during routine testing of its jack-up system.
About 1,000 workers from various subcontractors engaged by Jurong Shipyard on board the jack-up had to evacuate through only one escape gangway.
As a result, some workers had to jump into the sea to escape. A large number of workers suffered injuries, with 89 workers admitted to various hospitals for treatment.
The MoM’s Occupational Safety and Health Division’s (OSHD) investigation is said to have revealed that the sudden tilt of the rig was due to the forward leg motor not being able to hold the weight of the hull when the brakes were released. In addition, the jacking control system was not designed to be fail-safe.
“Jurong Shipyard had failed to take adequate safety measures for the testing of the jack-up system of the oil rig,” the Ministry said.
It was found to have not undertaken an adequate risk assessment; nor did not implement control measures in safe work procedure and it did not providing adequate means of egress and escape.
“As the principal contractor, Jurong Shipyard had the duty to plan, manage and monitor the construction of projects to ensure work was performed in a safe manner,” said Chan Yew Kwong, MoM’s director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate.
