Two people were killed when their van was pinned under the scaffolding that collapsed at the SUKE construction site near the Middle Ring Road 2 on March 5. Another incident at a different stretch killed three foreign workers on Monday.
He said there had been cases where “shortcuts” were taken by the upper management at the expense of health and safety standards. Paulsen had said this when commenting on the death of three workers after a launcher crane at the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway highway construction site in Kuala Lumpur toppled over on Monday. The crane crushed a car, seriously injuring its driver.
Under Section 52 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, he said, the board of directors and management could be charged for failure to comply with the requirements He said slapping corporate bodies with fines was not the best deterrent as the sum was “pittance which they could afford”. He said that in most cases, such mishaps occurred when the developer or firm in charge of the project was rushing to meet a deadline to avoid paying late delivery fees.Senior criminal lawyer Salim Bashir said the Construction Industry Development Board and the Malaysian Highway Authority must investigate whether the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 had been breached.