Indian national who died at Singapore work site did not heed to instructions: Inquiry

Singapore, May 19 (PTI) An Indian national who died after his chest was crushed by the machinery on a truck at his work site in Singapore did not heed his colleague’s instructions regarding work processes, according to a coroner’s inquiry.

His colleague, who was operating the truck and was responsible for the workers’ safety, also failed to notice Ponraman Eazhumalai, 23, before he was crushed.

On May 16, Coroner Brenda Chua released her findings into the death of Eazhumalai, who suffered a fatal injury on December 2, 2023, at the work site for the upcoming Tengah integrated rail and bus depot in Jurong Road, The Straits Times reported on Monday.

Eazhumalai was an assistant pump operator at TMC Concrete Pumping Services, and his colleague Vellaisamy Saravana Kumar was a concrete pump truck operator.

They had completed their concrete casting work at about 10.50 pm that night, and were preparing to retract the machinery on the truck when the accident happened.

While Vellaisamy was operating the truck’s control panel, he instructed Eazhumalai not to remove the stabilising plates placed below the vehicle’s machinery.

However, when Vellaisamy closed the rear right outrigger, Eazhumalai collected the stabilising plate beneath it and was caught between the machinery and the truck.

When Eazhumalai shouted, Vellaisamy turned around and saw what had happened.

He immediately opened the rear right outrigger to release Eazhumalai, who walked forward and collapsed.

While he was conscious and did not seem to have any severe visible injuries, he had difficulty breathing.

He was rushed to Farrer Park Hospital with a severe chest crush injury and was bleeding in both lungs. He died in the hospital about 18 hours later, according to the Singapore daily report.

During the inquiry, the company’s operations manager said Eazhumalai was supposed to collect the plates only after all the outriggers were retracted.

The company’s safe work processes also state that the operator of the truck must be responsible for safety in the working area when the machine is in use.

The procedure requires the operator to look at the outrigger while closing it to ensure no one is standing between the machinery and the truck.

However, Vellaisamy had not looked at the machinery or noticed Eazhumalai, though the latter was within his visual field and wearing a bright yellow reflective vest.

At the time of the inquiry, the Ministry of Manpower considered enforcement actions against the parties involved.

However, court documents did not state exactly which parties these were.

Responding to the deceased’s family members’ concerns about why he was not sent to a hospital nearer the work site, Coroner Chua said he was brought to the hospital in a conscious and responsive state.

As he had survived for several hours after various medical procedures, the judge said it did not appear that the longer time taken to travel to the hospital had significantly contributed to his death.

The inquiry also revealed that Eazhumalai had been hit by a vehicle outside a dormitory in a separate incident on August 9, the same year, about three months before his death.

In that incident, he was thrown against the vehicle’s windscreen and suffered abrasions on his body. He was discharged the next day with no complaints of headaches or "giddiness".

Coroner Chua found there was no evidence of foul play in Eazhumalai’s death, which was due to a work-related accident. PTI GS PY PY PY