SINGAPORE: A coroner has ruled that the death of an SMRT technical officer, who died after beingCoroner Christopher Goh noted the steps that SMRT has since taken to prevent future reoccurrences, and said that such a scenario was not envisaged before.Mr Muhammad Afiq Senawi, 30, was operating a hydraulic press machine in the rolling stock workshop, where trains and their components are maintained, when the incident occurred on Mar 23 last year.
He thought something was stuck or had gone awry, and Mr Afiq agreed, lifting up the piston slowly. His buddy looked away and heard the piston operating, followed by a loud"bang".Mr Afiq was seen falling backwards and lying face up in front of the machine, gasping for air. A hole had been created in a fencing gate that was meant to keep people away from the machine, and a spacer rod that was initially inside the machine had been ejected.
The hydraulic press machine was surrounded in the front by a metal fencing made of wire mesh that was meant to keep anyone from interfering with the operation zone of the machine, and to keep in any component that might fly out. Particularly, there was no instruction to ensure the cavity was empty before proceeding to the next step. While risk assessments had found that components might fly out - with fencing as the solution - SMRT did not anticipate that the spacer rod would be a strong projectile.
The machine has been completely re-engineered, added the MOM officer. Simpler names were given to the machine parts, while there was a locking interface introduced for the piston and the centre hole. The bottom part of the machine now has windows so operators can make sure it is empty before proceeding.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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