A Singaporean worker was found to be fatally electrocuted during an installation of solar panels on the rooftop of a building on June 12 while working with a group of other staff.
The victim died after he noticed and worked on an exposed cable arcing and was emitting smoke. The incident was revealed in an alert on Wednesday issued by Workplace Safety and Health (WSH).
Solar Panel-Related Death
The deceased came into contact with the exposed cable and subsequently electrocuted, prompting others in the area to take him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that day.
Officials who conducted preliminary investigations of the incident found the exposed cable lying on the roof of the building the worker was on. The area was wet because it had just rained before the accident.
This particular death in the workplace occurred only three days before a part of the Fuji Xerox Towers building located in Tanjong Pagar collapsed. The incident happened during demolition works last Thursday and was found to have killed one worker, as per the Straits Times.
The alert issued by the WSH noted that electrocution in the workplace is a significant concern during the installation of solar panels. It added that these panels could generate live current when exposed to sunlight, even if not plugged into an outlet.
It also outlined six measures that recommended what companies should adopt to protect their workers' safety, including insulating exposed electrical parts and stopping electrical work during bad or inclement weather.
The WSH said that falling from high places is also considered a risk when installing solar panels, and while the recent incident did not involve any falls, solar installers and contractors should still be aware of the possibility and establish and implement a site-specific fall prevention plan to completely remove or at least mitigate the chances of a worker falling from height.
Rising Workplace Deaths
The recent deaths bring the total number of workplace fatalities in Singapore in 2023 to 14. Last year, this number was 46 and has caused concern about the possibility of deaths in the workplace. Officials recommend anyone who notices any workplace safety and health violation submit their feedback to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), according to MustShareNews.
They were hopeful that the workplace death toll could be prevented from rising to uncontrollable numbers with everyone alert. The highest workplace-related death toll was in 2016 when 66 people lost their lives while working.
The MOM responded to the incidents by imposing a six-month heightened safety period from Sept. 1, 2022, to Feb. 28, 2023. This was later extended to May 31, 2023, as authorities were worried about the rise in workplace deaths.
The incident also comes as Singapore-based Sun Cable is going into voluntary administration after shareholders could not agree on the company's future direction. It had been looking to develop a $20.68 billion project to supply electrical power to Singapore while being backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes, a tech billionaire and climate activist, and Andrew Forrest, an Australian iron ore magnate, said the South China Morning Post.
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