MORE PICS - SCAFFOLDING Collapsed; 2 Killed 10 Injured; Despite Regular Checks at Sight, Collapse Happened - Negligence? Overloaded Granite Slabs?

ABOVE: And where is this new Kuala Lumpur Pavilion located? Can recognise this huge face on that building? The accident site is just after Bukit Bintang plaza as you turn in to the parking lots behind and at Sungei Wang Plaza. BELOW: The void left behind when the scaffolding fell like a pack of cards


More times than not, when accidents happened when people do things in hurry- save time, save money (this is the mantra of ALL Builders) and got into big trouble. If they also save materials to save more money, we get more cracks and collapse. We can only speculate that the scaffolding collapsed could be this sub-con was too greedy and start piling up these heavy granite slabs onto the scaffoldings trying to increase productivity to complete a deadline job high above the ground compromising on safety procedures. Preliminary report is expected within a week’s time focusing on negligence.

The Minister Datuk Fong (a real performer) has mentioned that the Builder has all the safety management’s procedures in place and there were regular inspections from his Ministry officials. So the weakest link on safety falls on the sub-con and the lack of supervision on them and this ever need to done things on time to meet deadline. Now the stop work order is out and after determining the faults, works would have to resume. In any case there is NO accident; the reality of this collapse was created by all concerned for another lesson to be learned and to evoked the feelings of people.

ABOVE: Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Fong Chan Onn being briefed on the collapse at the site and BELOW, what he said on TV

“The construction site from our usual inspection has adopted the management safety system. Nevertheless, this major accident has happened last year and again this year indicates could be to some degree - a non compliance by the subcontractors or a lapse in the management system that overlooked this sort of cases - on procedural and management systems of supervision; we would have to look into that. Accident happened when you take it easy"

January 10, 2007 19:55 PM
Two Workers Killed, 10 Others Injured When Scaffolding Collapses

ABOVE: Amandeeb Singh: "See what happened to my bloody hand!" is among the 10 construction workers injured when the scaffolding collapsed.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- Two construction workers were killed and 10 others injured when the scaffolding they were on at a height of 15 metres at the Pavillion shopping complex construction site in Jalan Bukit Bintang here, collapsed at 11am, Wednesday.

Dang Wangi OCPD ACP Muhammad Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman (ABOVE) said the dead were a local and a Myanmar national and they were killed instantly because of serious head injuries when construction material and debris fell on them. He told this to reporters during a visit to the accident site.

ABOVE: The police were the first to arrived and to take away the the killed (BELOW) to the hospital for the customary post-mortem to determine the causes of death

The construction company involved, Putra Perdana Construction Sdn Bhd, identified those killed as Liew Wan Chew, 52, from Ampang Tasik Tambahan here and the Myanmar national as Hram Uk, 25. So far, of the 10 injured, only three could be identified, Amandeeb Singh, 20, Jarnail Singh, 28, and Rahtuv Singh, 22, all from India, according to a press statement from the company. It said all the men involved were employed by a sub-contractor, Usaha Tiga Sdn Bhd, and were engaged in "granite slab-cladding" work at the third floor of the building under construction when the tragedy happened. Muhammad Zulkarnain said the dead and injured were sent to Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL). At the HKL, Liew's son, Wei Lun, 28, told reporters that his father had informed the family of some safety issues at the site and that several accidents had happened there.

ABOVE & BELOW: Other parts of the scaffolding were not affected.

"However, he did not delve too much into them but did mention that the scaffolding at the site was not really safe. "My father said that once some wood fell from a height and injured a worker," Wei Lun said when met at the hospital's mortuary. He said his father had been a construction labourer the last 10 years and only recently started working at this site. Meanwhile, a cousin of Hram Uk, Steven Nilwae, 45, when met at the HKL's emergency ward, said that he and Hram Uk, who was also known as Boinei Thang, had come to Malaysia two years ago. Nilwae, who is pursuing an English course at Institute Goon here, said he came to know of the tragedy after being informed of it by the site's management. He said that a colleague of Boinei, known only as Shodom, 25, was injured in the incident and that he was trying to get in touch with their relatives in Myanmar to inform them of what had happened. The complex's developer, Kuala Lumpur Pavilion Sdn Bhd, in a statement issued here expressed regret over the tragedy and extended its condolences to the families of those killed. It said that it would give its full cooperation to the authorities to investigate the cause of the accident and render whatever assistance it could to help the victims and the bereaved families.

= = = == = = == Wednesday January 10, 2007, STAR account;

Two dead, 10 injured when scaffolding collapses; Update by The Star newsdesk KUALA LUMPUR: Two died and 10 others were injured when a scaffolding they were standing on collapsed at a construction site in Jalan Bukit Bintang around noon on Wednesday. Four of those injured are in critical condition.The two dead workers were a Malaysian and Myanmar. Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Zulkarnain bin Abdul Rahman, who was at the scene of the incident, said the two died when they construction material fell onto their heads after they landed on the ground. he injured workers were sent to Kuala Lumpur Hospital. The workers were standing on a platform on the metal scaffolding about 15m above the ground when it collapsed.

= = = = = = = January 10, 2007 22:36 PM
Pavillion Project Developer Told To Stop Work

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- The developer of The Pavillion Kuala Lumpur shopping complex in Jalan Bukit Bintang here, was asked to stop work immediately until a complete report was made following the death of two construction workers at the site, Wednesday. Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Fong Chan Onn said a thorough investigation into the accident must be made to prevent further mishaps. "All construction activities were told to stop while the investigation was going on," he said to reporters during a visit to the accident scene this evening.
ABOVE & BELOW: With the "stop work Order" the workers would have nothing to do. Will they be paid? Perhaps only a slight allowance!


Two workers who were fixing granite slab-cladding were killed and another 10 were injured when two scaffolding they were on plummeted from a height of 15 metres at the site, located in the city's golden triangle area. The company involved in the construction, Putra Perdana Construction Sdn Bhd identified the dead as Liew Wan Chew, 52, a local from Ampang Tasik Tambahan and a Myanmar national, Hram Uk, 25. Of the ten injured, three had been identified. They were Amandeeb Singh, 20, Jarnail Singh, 28, and Rahtuv Singh, 22, all from India. Fong added, the investigation would also reveal whether there was any negligence and non-conforming to regulations at the site. This is the second accident resulting in death at the site in five months involving scaffoldings, and if there was evidence of negligence, action will be taken against those responsible," he said. In August last year, a worker was killed at the same site when some wood being carried on a scaffolding fell and hit him in the head. He said in today's incident, one of the two scaffolding also carried some tiles (see BELOW), resulting in overloading.