News Update S'pore NSL OilChem, GM fined

NSL OilChem Services Pte Ltd and its General Manager were fined a total of $95,000 on Tuesday for failing to take safety measures that caused the death of a worker on May 3.

The firm was fined $80,000 and its GM Ong Beng Tit was fined $15,000 for a flash fire at a crude oil extraction plant at Tanjong Kling Road.

The worker was caught in the fire while walking out of the pump house which was situated beside the tank farm area.

The flash fire was caused when escaped flammable vapour from two storage tanks reached an oil lamp with a naked light on an altar near the tank farm area. The flammable vapour had built up within the tank farm area because the surrounding metal hoarding, trees and fencing had acted as barriers to the dissipation of the flammable vapour by the wind.

The worker suffered 70 per cent second degree burns. He died in hospital on May 8 of septicaemia following extensive burns.

Investigations by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed that NSL had failed to take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that the workplace was safe and without risks.

MOM also found that Ong had failed to exercise due diligence in his capacity as a general manager to prevent NSL's failure.

Mr Silas Sng, Director of MOM's Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate, said: 'The flash fire could have been prevented if the company had taken the necessary safety measures - such as ensuring that there was no naked flame near the tank farm or repairing the hole on the rooftop of the tank.
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'The accident was all the more regrettable that the general manager of the company failed to rectify the inadequacies despite having the opportunity to do so.

'The fines meted out by the court on the company and its general manager serve to remind all stakeholders that each of them has a role and responsibility to play to ensure workplace safety and health, and to prevent the unnecessary loss of lives.