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Briton fell to his death while working on oil rig
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 21 January 2011 1948 hrs
SINGAPORE: A British senior tool pusher working onboard an oil rig at 50 Gul Road fell to his death in January 2009 just four days after he started working on the structure.
A coroner's inquiry into the death of Vermeulen Johannes Willibrordus Marinus revealed that the 39-year-old's body was found on the lowest floor of the oil rig.
The 16-storey structure, which is about 64 metres high, was still under construction when the incident took place.
Its site manager, 42-year-old John Christian Leland was the last person to see Mr Marinus alive at around 4.30pm on January 27, 2009.
Mr Leland had spotted the younger man at the top floor of their worksite earlier that afternoon and they started chatting about work-related matters.
It rained heavily at around 4pm and both men then decided not to climb down a ladder to a lower floor as it was deemed unsafe to do so.
The rain stopped about 30 minutes later and Mr Leland left Mr Marinus alone at the top floor as the senior tool pusher wanted to familiarise himself with his new working environment.
But barely 40 minutes passed, two other workers at the oil rig's lowest floor, heard a loud bang nearby.
They went to investigate and found Mr Marinus lying unconscious on the ground bleeding from his head.
An ambulance was called and he was declared dead at around 6.30pm.
An autopsy report later revealed that Mr Marinus had succumbed to multiple injuries consistent with the ones sustained by those who had fallen from height.
The Manpower Ministry carried out an investigation at the oil rig soon after this and it found three unsafe spots on the 15th floor of the structure where workers could have fallen from height.
But the court heard that Mr Marinus could have fallen from any one of these locations as nobody saw him plunge to his death.
In its findings, the ministry stated that Mr Marinus had accidentally fallen to his death and it had likely occurred while he was carrying out an inspection at the structure.
However, there was no conclusive evidence to determine how he fell.
State Coroner, Victor Yeo agreed with these findings and added that there was no evidence that Mr Marinus had committed suicide.
Due to this fatal accident, parties responsible for ensuring a safe working condition at the site, including Unidive Marine Services, were served with composition fines totalling S$2,500.
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 21 January 2011 1948 hrs
SINGAPORE: A British senior tool pusher working onboard an oil rig at 50 Gul Road fell to his death in January 2009 just four days after he started working on the structure.
A coroner's inquiry into the death of Vermeulen Johannes Willibrordus Marinus revealed that the 39-year-old's body was found on the lowest floor of the oil rig.
The 16-storey structure, which is about 64 metres high, was still under construction when the incident took place.
Its site manager, 42-year-old John Christian Leland was the last person to see Mr Marinus alive at around 4.30pm on January 27, 2009.
Mr Leland had spotted the younger man at the top floor of their worksite earlier that afternoon and they started chatting about work-related matters.
It rained heavily at around 4pm and both men then decided not to climb down a ladder to a lower floor as it was deemed unsafe to do so.
The rain stopped about 30 minutes later and Mr Leland left Mr Marinus alone at the top floor as the senior tool pusher wanted to familiarise himself with his new working environment.
But barely 40 minutes passed, two other workers at the oil rig's lowest floor, heard a loud bang nearby.
They went to investigate and found Mr Marinus lying unconscious on the ground bleeding from his head.
An ambulance was called and he was declared dead at around 6.30pm.
An autopsy report later revealed that Mr Marinus had succumbed to multiple injuries consistent with the ones sustained by those who had fallen from height.
The Manpower Ministry carried out an investigation at the oil rig soon after this and it found three unsafe spots on the 15th floor of the structure where workers could have fallen from height.
But the court heard that Mr Marinus could have fallen from any one of these locations as nobody saw him plunge to his death.
In its findings, the ministry stated that Mr Marinus had accidentally fallen to his death and it had likely occurred while he was carrying out an inspection at the structure.
However, there was no conclusive evidence to determine how he fell.
State Coroner, Victor Yeo agreed with these findings and added that there was no evidence that Mr Marinus had committed suicide.
Due to this fatal accident, parties responsible for ensuring a safe working condition at the site, including Unidive Marine Services, were served with composition fines totalling S$2,500.
