NEITHER LIFE nor limb was lost, but the risk of this happening was enough for six companies to find themselves hauled to court for flouting safety rules.
Employers are feeling the sharp teeth of the Workplace Heath and Safety Act, which replaced the Factories Act in March 2006.
This allowed Manpower ministry enforcement officers to throw the book at companies - as well as at the suits who run them - which did not keep their workplaces safe.
Last July, Kim Seng Heng Engineering Construction found itself $80,000 poorer for not ensuring that its worksite is safe.
Three months later in October, home-grown piling company, Zap, was fined $65,000 last October, for overloading its piling machine. It came crashing down.
In all, 27 companies were fned under the tougher legislation. This included PPL Shipyard in Pandan Road which was fined $135,000 - the highest fine meted out so far - for safety breaches that caused a crane to collapse. Three workers died in that incident.
The Manpower ministry disclosed that another 13 companies are queuing for their turn in court.
The new Act puts heavier responsibility on employers to ensure safety systems are up to scratch. Penalities are meted out even if no accident has occurred.
Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said: 'We don't want to wait till the accidents happen...very often its too late. People would be injured, property and lives would have been lost.'
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.
