2 workers killed, 5 hurt in shipyard mishap | |
| By Teh Joo Lin and Teh Joo Lin | |
| IN LESS than a month, a second mishap has taken place in a shipyard, this time killing two workers in what appears to be a case of gas poisoning. Seven Indian nationals working below the deck of the Pacific Ataawhai in a dry dock in Tuas Crescent found themselves gasping for breath. The two who died - aged 21 and 25 - were believed to have been asphyxiated. The rest were hospitalised and are in stable condition. On June 8, an Indian national, 42, died at the neighbouring Kreuz shipyard after he was severely burnt in an explosion on board a boat undergoing painting. Fourteen others were hurt in the explosion on the Rainbow Star. No explosion took place on Wednesday on board the ship that was being converted into a seismic survey vessel at DryDocks World Singapore. A spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said a few workers were rescued from the ship by an in-house emergency response team after the alarm was raised. Two workers were found slumped unconscious inside a compartment outside the engine room. It is not clear if these workers were the two who later died in hospital. While the Manpower Ministry (MOM) and the police investigate, a stop-work order has been declared on the vessel. Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times. |
Shipyards also clean, repair and paint hulls. This is usually done in dry docks or marine railways. Dry docks are floating docks that sit in the water. When a ship is floated into the dock, air is pumped into ballast tanks beneath the dock, causing the dock and the ship to rise out of the water. Marine railways sit on the edge of the water. Ships are attached to steel cables and pulled out of the water up on to shore. In both cases, hulls are cleaned by high and low pressure water guns, and by sand blasting. Painting of ship hulls is done mainly with spray guns, although occasionally hand painting occurs.
In shipyard many metal plate, pipe, gas, crane, hight voltage current, and many big power equipment. Workers will be around those materials. Every day they will face the dangerous situation. That is the way shipyard must have one department to handle this situation. We can avoid the accident if it the destiny, but we can to change it to minimize the caution of the situation that can make injury or damage.The employees of some shipyard are the most important assets to shipyard business. A proactive approach to Safety with quality training and briefing will ensure that employees and business are safer from the dangers of everything. It must take for regularly training and briefing. Generally, the new worker must get the safety briefing from safety officer before start work. After that the company must give the main safety equipment like helmet, safety shoes, goggle , ear plug, and overall .
