WVT Plastics Pte Ltd (“WVT”) manufactures plastic components for the retail industry. They engage Robotics Pte Ltd (“Robotics”) to provide logistics service, managing a warehouse located on their factory premises. Robotics also delivers finished products to the customers of WVT when required. The plastic PVC resins used in the manufacturing process are individually packed in 30 kg bags and each pallet contains 20 bags of resins.
The pallets are transported by Robotics employees using forklift trucks when stacking or retrieving them in the warehouse. The warehouse does not have any racks for the pallets, and the forklift truck drivers will stack them too high to avoid toppling.
One day, when the production volume was much higher than normal, a forklift truck driver, Billy, accidentally struck the side of a pallet when negotiating a turn on his forklift. This caused some of the bags to break and resins spilled onto the floor. Billy alighted from the forklift truck and attempted to seal the torn bags with tape. He did not notice the top pallet had shifted due to the impact from the forklift truck earlier and was unstably balanced. While sealing the torn bags, the upper stack of pallets toppled down onto him. He was extricated from the toppled load and pronounced dead at the scene by the paramedics.
WVT reported the fatal injury case to the authorities and within hours, inspectors from the Ministry of Manpower arrived at the warehouse to conduct their investigation. During the incident investigation, it was found no risk assessment had been conducted for the operations conducted in the warehouse.
The investigation also discovered Billy did not have a valid forklift truck driving license but had been operating the forklift truck for 3 months prior to the accident. Keys to forklift trucks are often left in the ignition and supervisors are too busy to check on the drivers as long as the goods requested by operations are delivered on time. Robotics also did not buy any work injury compensation insurance for their employees.
- Who should report the fatal injury to the Ministry of Manpower and by when should it be reported? What is the penalty for violation of reporting requirements?
- Per legal requirements, what is the relationship between WVT and Robotics? Whose responsibility is it to conduct the risk assessment? What could WVT do to ensure the necessary risk assessment has been conducted?
- What course of action can the family of Billy take to seek compensation for his untimely death due to the workplace accident?