Firm fined $200k and COO $150k over worker's fatal fall at warehouse

Employees were not trained or equipped to install metal beams on high storage racks

- Christine Tan

A company and its chief operating officer (COO) have been held accountable for a workplace incident three years ago, in which a Singaporean worker with nearly 40 years of experience at the firm fell to his death.

Automotive and industrial product distributor YHI Corporation was fined $200,000 on Aug 22, while COO Ong Chin Kiong was fined $150,000 over the death of Mr Tay Hock Soon, a warehouse operations executive.

They pleaded guilty to one offence each under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA).

Court documents did not state Mr Tay's age, but said he had been employed by YHI Corporation, a subsidiary of listed company YHI International, since June 1982.

The fatal accident happened on July 3, 2021, at a two-storey warehouse on the company's premises at 2 Pandan Road, near West Coast.

The warehouse was used to store automotive tyres and rims, among other products. There were 32 rows of storage racks on its ground level, each with eight tiers.

At around llam that day, Mr Tay instructed machine operator Goh Boon Yoke to help him install horizontal metal beams at one of the storage racks.