PREVENTING FORMWORK INCIDENTSReport on Session

28 Mar 2014 11.30am - 4.00pm

Solutioning Session

SYNOPSIS • PROGRAMME • OPENING ADDRESS1

project managers, professional engineers, WSH professionals, architects, academia and WSH inspectors. Dr. Gan called on all participants to interact and share their experiences, to give their inputs on possible causes for the incidents, and to propose solutions to prevent the next incident.

OPENING ADDRESSDr Gan gave a brief overview of the WSH Institute which was established in 2011, and its role as a think tank to formulate policies and strategies to assist policymakers, industry leaders and WSH professionals.

The Institute had organised this inaugural Solutioning Session in response to the spate of 3 fatal formwork-related incidents which occurred in Singapore in Jan 2014, compared to 4 such incidents for 2013.

To identify possible root causes for this pattern of events, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute invited stakeholders from the local formwork supply chain comprising formwork suppliers, main contractors, formwork contractors, formwork supervisors, formwork trainers,

SYNOPSISThe Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute organised the inaugural WSH Institute Solutioning Session – “Preventing Formwork Incidents”, to engage stakeholders in the formwork supply chain to discuss the root causes of formwork incidents and to recommend possible preventive measures.

A total of 66 stakeholders attended the session, comprising participants from formwork suppliers, main contractors, formwork contractors, formwork supervisors, formwork trainers, project managers, professional engineers, WSH professionals, architects, academia and government bodies.

PROGRAMMEDr Gan Siok Lin, Executive Director of the WSH Institute gave the opening address, followed by a presentation on 5 Formwork Fatal Case Studies by Associate Professor David Chua, National University of Singapore. During the first breakout session, the participants discussed the root causes of formwork collapse. In the second breakout session, the participants discussed possible solutions to address the engineering, organisational and human factors identified from the previous session.

Please refer to the Appendix for the programme details.

FORMWORK CASE STUDY PRESENTATION

Associate Professor David Chua from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, National University of Singapore, presented the lapses and possible control measures of five fatal formwork-related incidents which occurred from 2009 to 2011 . A/Prof David Chua urged the participants to explore the engineering, human factors and organisational root causes during the breakout session.

FORMWORK CASE STUDY PRESENTATION

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SOLUTIONING SESSION

SOLUTIONING SESSION

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OBJECTIVES

The Solutioning Session aimed to understand the root causes for the collapse of formwork structures and to co-develop solutions to prevent future formwork incidents.

METHODOLOGY

Formwork suppliers, formwork contractors, formwork supervisors, WSH professionals, main contractors, project managers, professional associations, educational institutions and government institutions were invited to nominate up to 5 persons to participate in the Solutioning Session. These participants provided the expertise and experience required for meaningful discussion on formwork-related incidents.

The Solutioning Session comprised two breakout sessions. During the first breakout session, participants were organised by their roles to discuss the possible root causes of formwork collapse. During the second session, the participants were reorganised to brainstorm on possible solutions to prevent formwork collapse. Before the session ended, the participants shared and presented their recommended solutions.

BREAKOUT SESSION 1: ROOT CAUSES OF FORMWORK COLLAPSE

The objective of Breakout Session 1 was to gather inputs on the possible root causes of formwork collapse from the participants. The root causes identified were lack of competency, lack of communication, lack of clarity and poor resource management.

Lack of Competency

(a) Workers

Though most workers were trained on the job, they were not adequately trained to identify hazards associated with formwork activities. Feedback from suppliers indicated that workers who were provided with training by suppliers were often replaced or deployed to other activities/sections. Also, despite the training provided, some workers continued to face difficulty in following the sequence of installation and dismantling of both conventional and system formwork.

(b) Supervisors

The participants opined that current mandated formwork supervisory training could be enhanced to improve on supervisors’ understanding of formwork design drawings. There was also feedback that there was inadequate supervision of the workers on the ground. This may be due to a lack of supervisors or a high supervisor-to-worker ratio.

(c) Professional Engineers

Professional engineers who were not involved in the design of temporary structures may

SOLUTIONING SESSION

have difficulty in understanding or identifying parameters to be used in the design of formwork structures. Even with the use of analytic tools such as STAAD Pro, the input parameters were critical in getting the correct estimates of effects of loads, in particular lateral loads for formwork design.

(d) Project Managers

A project manager usually picked up his project management skills through on the job training. If he was new to the industry, he would not be experienced in managing projects with limited site resources and tight project schedules.

Lack of Communication

(a) Engineers and Architects

There was general feedback of a lack of coordination between civil and structural engineers and architects during the design phase. In other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, the constructability of a building was often discussed and reviewed by these parties before the drawings were handed over to the contractors.

b) Among professional engineers

Discussion would be needed among professional engineers on interfacing issues should a formwork be designed by more than one professional engineer. Failure to do so could lead to incoordination of activities, incompatibility of formwork structures which are being used in tandem, and inadequate checks being put in place.

c) All stakeholders

There was a general lack of platforms for stakeholders at different phases of the construction project to come together to discuss on potential WSH issues.

Lack of Clarity

There was a lack of guidance materials on safe erection of formwork. In addition, contractual requirements often required the main contractor to be responsible for all temporary work designs including the design of formwork structures which may not be spelt out clearly in building contracts.

Poor Resource Management

a) Materials

In instances where the supply of formwork materials were insufficient for a project, some contractors had been observed to use parts or components from different formwork systems or use formwork from different suppliers in tandem for the same monolithic casting, without prior assessment done by PEs. This mixing and matching of formwork components had led to occurrences of accidents involving formwork. Manufacturer’s instructions were at times not adhered to, potentially leading to improper installation of formwork structures, particularly for structures at edges of buildings or at locations where space was a constraint.

b) Time

Due to tight project timelines, it was not uncommon for the professional engineer to be given an unrealistically short timeframe to inspect the formwork design before the commencement of concreting. As such, a thorough inspection of the formwork structure may not be possible. The professional engineer was also commonly given insufficient time to inspect formwork structures that had been modified significantly from their original design.

c) Manpower

The participants highlighted that another cause for incidents could be the lack of manpower, including a lack of professional engineers to conduct inspections. The recent manpower crunch had also resulted in an insufficient number of formwork supervisors and workers leading to longer working hours and hence fatigue. Participants commented that supervisors had to go to different worksites to supervise the workers in order to solve the manpower crunch. The high worker to supervisor ratio had also resulted in inadequate supervision of the workers.

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BREAKOUT SESSION 2: PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT FORMWORK INCIDENTS

The objective of Breakout Session 2 was for the participants to propose recommendations to address the root causes discussed during the earlier breakout session 1. The participants were divided into six groups. All the root causes were grouped into 3 categories: engineering, human factors and organisation. Each root cause category was discussed by two groups of participants. The following solutions were then discussed by the participants.

Statutory Responsibilities on Developers

The participants proposed that statutory responsibilities be imposed on developers to ensure reasonable project duration be set aside for project planning and construction. It was proposed that the number of supervisors, safety factor(s), and safety budget required be included in the building contract so as to give contractors a better estimate of the value of the tender. They also recommended that WSH professionals be engaged during the initial drafting of the tender requirements to address WSH concerns.

Postscript: The information for the enactment of Design for Safety Regulations was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on 7 May 2014 at the launch of the National Workplace Safety and Health Campaign. The Workplace Safety and Health (Design for Safety) Regulations has been gazetted and published on 10 July 2015. It will come into operation on 1 August 2016. The proposed Regulations will place duties on developers and designers to identify and address foreseeable risks throughout the lifecycle of a construction project. Where risks cannot be mitigated by design interventions, it will have to be communicated to those involved in the construction project. The Regulations will apply only to projects with contract value of $10 million and above.

Development of Guidance Materials

The participants recommended development of guidance materials for the safe erection and dismantling of formwork. Formwork inspection

practices could be simplified and included in checklists for easy understanding. Infographics could also be developed to make the guidance materials more comprehensible by workers and supervisors. Guidance material could also be produced for project managers to guide them in areas such as allocation and management of resources.

Enhancement of Formwork Training

The current formwork training for supervisors could be enhanced to equip the attendees with greater knowledge in understanding formwork designs, checking for compliance to designs and quality of formwork components.

Postscript: Mr Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower announced measures at the Programme- Based Engagement (ProBE) plus Forum on 9 April 2014 to strengthen the current course on Formwork Safety Course for Supervisors. The key areas of revision were safe work practices for formwork installation, formwork methodology and proper use of personal protective equipment for working at heights. The revised course was made available through the existing Accredited Training Providers in May 2014. Secondly, a new curriculum development advisory for a formwork safety course for workers had been developed to address the current lack of formwork-specific training. A one-day Formwork Safety Course for Workers has been available since July 2014. This course covers key workplace hazards, including formwork-related hazards such as falling from height, and safety precautions and measures relating to the erection and dismantling of formwork operations.

Enactment of Formwork Regulations

The participants proposed to mandate the training of formwork workers such that only those who have undergone the relevant training are allowed to erect and dismantle formwork.

Postscript: The formwork regulations are currently being drafted.

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SOLUTIONING SESSION • CLOSING REMARKS • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Competency building by Professional Engineers Board

The participants noted that a letter was sent by the Deputy Commissioner of Workplace Safety and Health to the Professional Engineers Board on 18 January 2014 reminding all professional engineers of their duties and responsibilities with regards to the design of formwork structures. To supplement this, participants proposed that dialogues could be organised by the Professional Engineers Board (PEB) to further enhance competency of PEs involved in formwork design; to share information on gaps in design and inspection, and good practices in formwork design. The Professional Engineers Board could also provide more guidance on the design and design parameters to professional engineers.

Platform for Communication

The different parties needed to communicate more frequently and it was suggested that relevant stakeholders involved in the different stages of the construction project should clarify on roles and responsibilities, and communicate regularly on safety and health risks and management of residual risks. For example, at the design stage, structural engineers and architects could discuss how to design out or minimise safety and health concerns. Subsequently, they should communicate to contractors the residual risks that need to be managed. With this information, contractors could factor the appropriate resources required to manage these risks into their proposals. Throughout the construction project, appropriate and regular platforms of communication should be available to enable better communication and management of safety and health risks.

Group Facilitators

Associate Professor David Chua Kim Huat, National University of Singapore

Professor Brian Peacock, SIM University

Mr. Tong Tee Hui, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Lim Cheong, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Davian Chiew, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Choong Chang Thai, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Tan Wee Jin, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Mr. Tan Pe Ter, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Industry Participants

Main Contractors

Mr. Chee Weng Ei, CMC Construction Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Loh Chung Tat, CMC Construction Pte. Ltd.

Project Managers

Mr. Chung Chai Wee, PM Link Pte. Ltd.

Dr. Ting Seng Kiong, Society of Project Managers

Mr. Francis Ung, SANZK JV

Mr. Hew Main Wah, SANZK JV

Mr. Fong Kim Whey, DFS Initiative Pte. Ltd.

Formwork Contractors

Mr. Barry Bolt, Harsco Infrastructure Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Kulandaivelu Chidambaram, Sree Ram Construction Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Lim Ah Yew, Hock United Engineering Pte. Ltd.

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CLOSING REMARKS

The Institute would like to thank all participants for their active participation in the WSH Institute inaugural solutioning session and for making this event a success.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS7

Mr. Mani Senthil Kumar, Sree Ram Construction Pte. Ltd.

Mr. KC Koh, PDS Group (Intl) Pty. Ltd.

Mr. Teo Soon Seng, Hai Leck Engineering (Pte.) Ltd.

WSH Professionals

Mr. Don Wilson Paua, Woh Hup (Pte.) Ltd.

Mr. Ganesan Senthil Kumar, Tat Hin Builders Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Thomas Fong, Soletanche Bachy

Mr. Ahn Sung Kyun, HYUNDAI Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd.

Mr. Lim Chee Chau Daniel, Sim Lian Construction Co. (Pte.) Ltd.

Mr. Ng Peng Sin, Welltech Construction Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Ng Swee Ann, W H Marathon Pte. Ltd.

Ms. Chew Lay Keng Jenny, Tat Hong Holdings Ltd.

Mr. Lee Kok Foong, Building Construction Co. (Pte) Ltd.

Mr. Puah Hong Siang, Sim Lian Construction Co. (Pte.) Ltd.

Mr. Yeo Kim Hock, Gammon Construction Ltd.

Mr. Guo Jin Shun, Wise Safety & Health Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Mohammed Rossiman Bin Lukman, HYUNDAI Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd.

Mr. Desmond Teo, Transvert Scaffold & Engineering Pte. Ltd.

Formwork Trainers

Dr. Natarajan Krishnamurthy, SCAL Academy Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Lee Chun Kit, SCAL Academy Pte. Ltd.

Government Agencies

Mr. Dinesh s/o Muthu Kumarasamy, Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Mr. Leong Choong Yiok, Land Transport Authority

of Singapore

Mr. Lim Chang Woei, Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Mr. Pook Guo Hua, Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Mr. Prakash Pappunaidu, Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Ms. Vimalatulasi Vetrivel, Land Transport Authority of Singapore

Formwork Suppliers

Mr. Chen-Ming, Zulin (S.E.A.) Pte. Ltd.

Mr. David Ng Soon Chee, Zulin (S.E.A.) Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Faris S.T. Sng, BEDEC Pte. Ltd.

Mr. George Qiao, Zulin (S.E.A.) Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Juergen Bulling, Peri Asia Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Khoo Koh Seong, DFS Investment Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Cheok Seng Chai, HKL-Formaply Formwork Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Rances F. Rances, HKL-Formaply Formwork Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Richard Chee Hiang Meng, Richee Engineering Enterprise Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Tadas Ciuckys, Doka Formwork Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Wong Yin Fung Peri Asia Pte. Ltd.

Academia

Professor Goh Yang Miang, National University of Singapore

Dr. Wang Qiao, National University of Singapore

Dr. Zhou Zhipeng, National University of Singapore

Architects

Mr. John Ting, A.I.M. & ASSOCIATES

Mr. Michael Tan, RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Pte.) Ltd.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • APPENDIX 8

Mr. Tan Choon Hwee, CPG Consultants Pte. Ltd.

Professional Engineers

Er. Colin Yip, Arup Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Er. Raymond Tsui Ming, AECOM Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Er. Sivakumaran Murugesu, SMS Consulting Engineers Pte. Ltd.

Er. Liau Wai Kun, Keon Engineering

Er. Hwang Teng Sun Louis, Engineers 9000 Pte. Ltd.

Er. Ong Kean Hin, Nanyang Technological University

Er. S. Mathan, SANZK JV

Er. Terence Ng, Housing and Development Board

Er. Yong Heng Cheong, NatSteel Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Formwork Supervisors

Mr. Alex Ong, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Jaspal Pal, Ministry of Manpower

Mr. Mathavan Nagarajan, Sree Ram Construction Pte. Ltd.

Mr. Gunasekaran Arunjunakumar, Hai Leck Engineering (Pte.) Ltd.

Mr. Saminathan Arunagiri, Hai Leck Engineering (Pte.) Ltd.

Organising Committee

Dr. Gan Siok Lin, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Mr. Tan Boon Kiat, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Ms. Rosalind Gan, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Mr. Lim Guan Kheng, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

Ms. Mok Wai Chee, Workplace Safety and Health Institute

13.00 Opening Address – Dr Gan Siok Lin, Executive Director, WSH Institute

13.10 Formwork Case Study Presentation - A/Prof David Chua, NUS

13.30 Break-out Session 1 - Root Causes of Formwork Collapse

14.20 Tea Break

14.50 Break-out Session 2 - Brainstorming of Root Causes to prevent Formwork Collapse

15.30 Presentation of Solutions

16.00 Feedback of Session

APPENDIX: PROGRAMME OUTLINE

Published in July 2015 by the Workplace Safety and Health Institute, Singapore.1500 Bendemeer Road #04-01Ministry of Manpower Services CentreSingapore 339946website: www.wsh-institute.sgemail: contact@wshi.gov.sg

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The Observatory for WSH Landscape (OWL) is a function of Workplace Safety and Health Institute. OWL aims to observe, analyse and communicate changes in the workforce, workplace and working life to researchers, policy makers and industries in Singapore and Asia.