46-year-old technician survives 52-metre fall at Orchard construction site, receives S$346K compensation

A 46-year-old crane operator fell from the 12th storey, over 52 metres before landing on a rubbish bin and narrowly escaping death in Apr 13, 2010, at around 2.50pm.

The incident happened in a construction site at Orchard Boulevard and the worker received S$346,000 as compensation, reports Lianhe Wanbao. 

The victim is a Malaysia citizen and was an employee of Fes Engineering at the time of incident.

He was standing on a 52-metre tall platform while assisting with the installation of another. 

As the work progressed, the platform which was hanging crashed into the platform that the victim was standing on, for reasons unknown, causing it to dislodge from the crane pillar, and the victim to fall. 

In a stroke of luck, he landed on a plastic bin, and escaped death despite many fractures and considerable injuries. 

The victim took to the High Court, suing his ex-employer Fes Engineering, the crane supplier company, Soon Douglas, and the main contractor of the project, Novelty Builders for negligence.  

According to the docent documents, the victim accused his employer and contractor of breaching workplace safety and hygiene laws, but the accused pointed out that the victim was instructed to secure his safety harness onto the crane pillar but did not do so, instead attaching it to the platform fence.

In Apr 2016, the three accused agreed to bear 88.75% of the fines imposed for negligence, with Fes Engineering bearing 41.25%, Soon Douglas 36.25% and Novelty building paying 11.23%.

The rest (11.25%) would be bore by the victim himself.  

The parties have since come to a agreement, settling on a compensation package of S$346,000 which will be awarded to the victim.