DOSH confirms crane switch tampered with
> Dept yet to identify culprit or establish if foul play was involved
KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has confirmed that one of the safety switches of the crane involved in a freak accident in August had been tampered with.
“One of our officers went to the scene to investigate and he confirmed it,” DOSH director-general Datuk Mohtar Musri told a press conference yesterday.
When asked if the tampering of the switch had led to the accident, which killed Chim Khoon Sing, the woman driver, when the crane’s 300kg hoist block gave way, fell and crushed her car in Jalan Raja Chulan, he merely nodded.
Mohtar had, on Sept 8, said it was likely that the safety limit switch, which limits the movement of crane booms within the stipulated hoarding, had been tampered with, or it would have been stopped from operating outside the compound.
He, however, said it could not be established as of yet if there was any foul play involved.
Mohtar said the department is also in the midst of identifying who was responsible for the tampering.
He added that while an investigation paper has been submitted to the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers for legal action, DOSH was still running tests on the crane’s equipment and parts that have been seized.
“These tests will take a bit of time. We need to do tensile test, bending test, and others.
“We will use all of these for the prosecution process,” he said, adding that it is expected to be completed in a month.
Meanwhile, MCA Public Service and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong urged the government to implement a specific ruling to regulate the operation of all construction machinery, especially tower cranes.
In making the call, Chong said lawyers from his department had informed him that there is no specific provision or ruling in the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 on the required safety perimeter for construction lifting machinery.
“Such a ruling is necessary to avoid fatalities due to construction site accidents,” Chong told reporters at a press conference at his office here yesterday.