'He didn't wear any safety equipment': Worker falls from third floor of Kaki Bukit building while servicing air-con

An air-con technician who was not wearing a safety harness suffered a suspected ankle fracture after falling three storeys from an industrial building in Kaki Bukit.

The incident occurred at 30 Kaki Bukit Road 3 at about 6pm last Saturday (July 27), reported Shin Min Daily News.

The Chinese publication had been tipped-off to a video showing three medical personnel attending to a man covered in blood and writhing in pain on the ground. One of his feet was resting at an unnatural angle.

When a Shin Min reporter visited the building, an employee of a furniture store said his colleagues told him the man had gotten injured while servicing an air-con compressor unit outside the office on the third floor alone.

According to the staff, who declined to be named, the technician was walking along the mesh grille air-con ledge when he stepped into a hole and fell to the second floor before tumbling to the ground.

"He didn't wear any safety equipment," added the staff.

The reporter observed a hole measuring about 40cm wide in the mesh grille of the third floor. A shoe could be seen on the grille of the second floor.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force told AsiaOne they received a call for assistance at the abovementioned location at about 6.40pm that day and one person was taken to Changi General Hospital.

Employer unaware of man's side job

The injured man works at Gain City, and had taken on the air-con servicing job on the side, reported Shin Min.

Gain City HR director Teo Caiqun (transliteration) told the Chinese evening daily that the 37-year-old employee hails from China and is one of their drivers. The company was not aware that he had taken on an external air-con servicing job.

She added that the company is in touch with the man's family, and had helped to arrange for his wife to fly to Singapore from China on July 30.

Teo stressed that safety is Gain City's top priority, and there are strict safety regulations that employees must abide by.

The injured man had taken a set of personal protective equipment - including a safety harness - with him when leaving work that day but did not wear the equipment.

"We will continue to strengthen our safety training and ensure all employees meet our high safety standards."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com