6 hurt when scaffold topples

Six construction workers at a worksite in Toa Payoh North were injured yesterday, when the scaffolding they were on collapsed.

A worker was said to have been clipping his harness to the scaffolding when it became unstable and the structure gave way, The Straits Times reported online.

Five foreign workers - three Bangladeshis, a Chinese and a Malaysian - were taken to hospital following the incident, which occurred at about 11.40am.

As of press time, three of them had been discharged.

The sixth worker, who is from China, sustained minor injuries and was treated on-site.

The construction company involved, Lian Soon Construction, has been instructed to stop work at the site, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said.

The five-storey building where the scaffolding was erected is next to Block 970 in Toa Payoh North, and is owned by Mapletree Industrial Trust. It has been designated a high-tech space which will have ground-floor showrooms, a foodcourt and a multi-storey carpark, according to Mapletree's website.

It is part of an industrial cluster of four buildings.

The incident comes just two days after a crane toppled at the National Art Gallery worksite, killing two workers and injuring four others. MOM's director of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate, Mr Chan Yew Kwong, said the ministry is concerned about the spate of accidents that have taken place in the past few days.

"Most workplace accidents could have been prevented if companies and workers had put in more effort to ensure that the risks were identified and mitigated," he said.

Get My Paper for more stories.