Man taken to hospital after container falls on forklift at Pasir Panjang Terminal

SINGAPORE — A man was taken to hospital after a container fell on the forklift he was operating at the Pasir Panjang Terminal on the morning of Nov 25.

In a statement, port operator PSA Singapore confirmed that the incident happened at the container yard at Pasir Panjang Terminal 3 at about 6.40am.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the incident at about 6.55am and took the conscious 37-year-old man to National University Hospital.

He is in stable condition, according to PSA.

In a video circulating online, a forklift is seen lifting a container, which then moves a column of five containers directly behind.

The column starts to fall towards the forklift as it backs away, with the top container of the pile then falling on the operator's cabin before rolling to the ground. As the video ends, a man can be seen falling out of the damaged cabin onto the ground.

In another visual, a column of four containers is seen bracing against the front of the forklift, with the cabin tilting backwards. At least six firefighters are seen at the scene, with two tending to a person lying on the ground.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Nov 25 that the forklift operator, a Malaysian, sustained lacerations to his head and body when a stack of empty shipping containers fell on the vehicle he was operating.

A source familiar with port operations had earlier told ST that the containers were likely to be empty as forklifts are designated to handle only empty ones, with loaded containers being handled with cranes instead.

MOM said that as a general safety measure, "containers need to be properly stacked according to the acceptable pattern and maximum height to prevent toppling".

It added that it is investigating the incident and has instructed the occupier and the worker's employer, PSA, to stop all empty container-handling work activities at the site and conduct a safety time-out for its operations.

During safety time-out, companies stop their daily work routine to take stock of and review workplace safety and health systems and work processes.

This will be followed by measures to control risk.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.