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SINGAPORE: A construction company, a project manager, and an engineer were found guilty on Friday (January 22) of multiple criminal charges for the collapse of a viaduct under construction in 2017, which killed one worker and injured 10 others.
O Kim Peow Contractors, a builder appointed by the Land Transportation Authority (LTA) to build the viaduct to link two highways, was found guilty of failing to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of workers laying a deck slab.
Project manager Yee Chee Keong and engineer Wong Kiew Hai were convicted of recklessly endangering the safety of workers by failing to call for work to stop when cracks were discovered, and for obstructing justice by removing incriminating messages. by WhatsApp.
READ: PIE viaduct test: cracks detected 3 times before collapse, builder is unaware of errors in initial design
A section of the viaduct that was being built from the Tampines Expressway (TPE) to the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and Upper Changi Road East collapsed at around 3.30am on July 14, 2017.
Eleven workers were at the top of the section, working on casting the deck slab. They fell on metal reinforcing bars, concrete and machinery, and Chen Yinchuan, a 31-year-old Chinese citizen, was killed. Ten others suffered injuries ranging from pelvic and spinal fractures and abrasions and lacerations.
An incomplete viaduct near the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) collapsed on July 14, 2017 (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
According to the prosecution, there were red flags and warning signs that led to the collapse, including repeated cracks that appeared in the temporary supports or corbels of the viaduct.
However, Or Kim Peow, along with Yee and Wong, ignored them. The company did not inform LTA of any of the above corbel cracks, although it knew the authority would want to know and require an explanation.
READ: PIE Viaduct Collapse – Engineer Admits He Know About Design Errors and Structural Cracks Before Fatal Accident
The longest and most severe cracks were discovered 40 minutes before the collapse, as workers were pouring the deck slab and continuously adding wet concrete, but no one stopped working.
The cracks worried Wong, who called out to Yee. Yee ordered him to notify co-defendant Robert Arianto Tjandra, the project’s registered professional engineer, but they did not stop working.
After the structure collapsed, Yee and Wong deleted their WhatsApp messages to each other to show that they were aware of the cracks, and lied to authorities saying they had ordered the works to stop, but this did not happen in time.
All defendants will be sentenced at a later date.
Tjandra pleaded guilty midway through the trial and received approximately one year and nine months in jail and a $ 10,000 fine. The accredited verifier for the construction of the viaduct, Leong Sow Hon, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail.
LTA in December 2018 announced that it had appointed another company to complete the viaduct, and it is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.
