Workplace injuries, fatalities and ill-health exact a heavy toll on employers, workers and the community. In 2018, work accidents in Singapore caused 12,810 workplace injuries[1], with 47% workers sustaining major injuries, and 41 deaths. Most of the fatalities were caused by falls from a height, slips, trips and falls, machinery-related and vehicular-related incidents. The Workplace Safety and Health Act requires employers to report workplace accidents, dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases to MOM.
APPLYING OUR FORENSIC EXPERTISE IN INDUSTRIAL INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS
TFEG’s forensic scientists have years of experience in the investigation of industrial incidents. As an independent party, the TFEG team assists lawyers, investigators, loss adjustors, safety personnel in the investigation of an incident. Our experts work towards establishing the contributory factors and root causes(s) of an incident, and determining key events, their possible sequence and interrelationships. The scientific findings are evaluated and integrated in a holistic manner to create an evidence-based account of events in a forensic reconstruction report.
TFEG’S SCOPE OF WORK
TFEG’s scope of work includes the following:
- Evaluate internal and investigation reports, witness statements, documentation and photographs;
- Conduct site inspection and evaluation;
- Collection of physical evidence;
- Examine damaged materials, transferred evidence, conduct chemical analysis to identify chemicals, perform simulation experiments to investigate the reactions and compatibility of chemicals;
- Evaluate industrial processes, work practices, systemic vulnerabilities, and review safety protocols and compliance of practices with best practice;
- Determine the mechanism and function of equipment, as well as the properties of materials; and
- Reconstructing the sequence of events and the possible actions of persons involved in the incident.
CASES OUR EXPERTS HAVE WORKED ON
We have been engaged to work on cases that range from simple mishaps to multi-million-dollar complex cases. Our experts have successfully applied our wide-ranging forensic expertise to cases involving:
- Damage of an underground electrical cable.
- Failure of bungy cord during operation of the reverse bungy ride
- Failure of high-pressure tubings in a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant
- Scuba and rebreather drowning incidents
- Failure of safety harness and webbing sling
- Physical injury while operating a rotary abrasive grinder
- Helicopter rappelling mishap
- Falls from high-rise buildings
- Fall from a stack of concrete at a construction site
- Fatal traffic accident involving a dump truck in a manufacturing facility
- High-speed boat collisions
- Electrocution of an arc welder
- Asphyxiation by carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide while clearing a choke in the manhole of a canteen sewer
- Subterranean gas explosion during maintenance work at a water valve pit
- Fire in ventilation ducts
- Fire in the recently painted ballast tanks of a ship
- Explosion and fire due to offgassing of blowing agent in a shipping container of Styrofoam products
- Chevron Oronite chemical explosion
- Chemical explosion during manual mixing of sensitive, unstable chemicals
- Fire at a chemical waste disposal plant
- Explosion at a dump site due to reactive and flammable chemicals