Contractor dies after falling from ladder in Bedok

A renovation contractor died after falling from a ladder.

Mr Tan Ah Lee, 64, a Malaysian, was patching the ceiling of a home in Bedok on March 6 when he fell.

In a statement to The New Paper last Thursday, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said Mr Tan was engaged to patch the ceiling of a home but was later found lying on the ladder on the floor.

It is believed the A-frame ladder toppled while he was working on the ceiling.

The contractor was taken to hospital where he later died.

MOM is investigating the accident.

According to business records, Mr Tan is the sole proprietor of Eng Hup Heng Renovation Contractor, a company registered here since 1999.

This is the eighth reported workplace death here this year.

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TNP reported last week that worker deaths were at a record low last year, but more have been hurt on the job recently.

According to data from MOM, there were 39 workplace fatalities last year, or 1.1 per 100,000 workers.

There were 41 deaths, or 1.2 per 100,000 workers, in 2018.

There were also 629 cases of major injuries last year, the most since 2014, and a nine-year high of 13,111 cases of minor injuries.

MOST PRONE

Slips, trips and falls were the leading cause, making up 34 per cent of major injuries and 28 per cent of minor injuries.

MOM said construction workers, drivers, cleaners, kitchen workers and security guards were the most prone to such injuries.

Enforcement operations have been stepped up.

Last year, MOM conducted about 17,000 inspections and uncovered more than 8,900 contraventions.

It issued 58 stop-work orders with an average duration of six weeks, and almost 1,000 companies were fined more than $1.4 million in total.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.