<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Lift mishap: Safety breaches blamed
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN MAY last year, service engineer Bhuwan Chandra was standing in a lift shaft, trying to oil problematic doors on the first floor.
Several metres above, a colleague was holding open the doors to the lift, making sure it did not move.
But the lift suddenly sprang to life, descended three floors and crashed down on Mr Chandra's head.
The blow killed him almost immediately, an inquiry into his death heard yesterday.
A coroner determined that Mr Chandra ignored safety protocol when he hopped into the lift shaft in a Jurong West Central 1 block on May 9 last year. The 42-year-old's death was labelled accidental.
The inquiry heard that Mr Chandra got a 22-year-old Malaysian assistant technician to hold the lift doors open with his hands to prevent the lift from moving while he worked underneath.
Later, in an attempt to reach some mechanical parts on the lift door, he told his colleague to narrow the gap between the doors.
This caused the lift system to be activated, and the lift descended, hitting Mr Chandra on the head.
A re-enactment done earlier by investigators showed that if the doors were within 1.3cm of each other, the lift would start to move.
Had the system been switched to a manual mode, the lift would not have descended, the court heard.
State Coroner Victor Yeo also said Mr Chandra should have switched off the power to the shaft.
Mr Chandra worked for Fujitec, which manufactures lifts and escalators, for seven years. He was described as a hardworking, safety-conscious and helpful supervisor.
After his death, the company reviewed its safety procedures and offered refresher courses for workers, the court heard. ELENA CHONG
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN MAY last year, service engineer Bhuwan Chandra was standing in a lift shaft, trying to oil problematic doors on the first floor.
Several metres above, a colleague was holding open the doors to the lift, making sure it did not move.
But the lift suddenly sprang to life, descended three floors and crashed down on Mr Chandra's head.
The blow killed him almost immediately, an inquiry into his death heard yesterday.
A coroner determined that Mr Chandra ignored safety protocol when he hopped into the lift shaft in a Jurong West Central 1 block on May 9 last year. The 42-year-old's death was labelled accidental.
The inquiry heard that Mr Chandra got a 22-year-old Malaysian assistant technician to hold the lift doors open with his hands to prevent the lift from moving while he worked underneath.
Later, in an attempt to reach some mechanical parts on the lift door, he told his colleague to narrow the gap between the doors.
This caused the lift system to be activated, and the lift descended, hitting Mr Chandra on the head.
A re-enactment done earlier by investigators showed that if the doors were within 1.3cm of each other, the lift would start to move.
Had the system been switched to a manual mode, the lift would not have descended, the court heard.
State Coroner Victor Yeo also said Mr Chandra should have switched off the power to the shaft.
Mr Chandra worked for Fujitec, which manufactures lifts and escalators, for seven years. He was described as a hardworking, safety-conscious and helpful supervisor.
After his death, the company reviewed its safety procedures and offered refresher courses for workers, the court heard. ELENA CHONG
