A 23-year-old construction worker died on August 3 after a formwork structure collapsed at a project site in Jurong Port. The incident occurred around 9:50 a.m. at 30 Jurong Port Road, where the worker was inside a lorry when the structure fell from the fifth storey of a building under construction. Emergency responders, including the Singapore Civil Defence Force, arrived to find the man trapped in the driver's seat. Despite efforts by rescue specialists to remove the debris and extricate him, he was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.
The Ministry of Manpower has since ordered the site occupier and main contractor, HPC Builders, to halt all formwork operations while an investigation into the cause of the collapse is conducted. Preliminary police investigations have indicated that no foul play is suspected. The project, which is part of Jurong Port's Integrated Construction and Prefabrication Hub, is a multi-user facility intended to streamline the production of building components. The worker was employed by Keehans, a firm involved in the project.
Jurong Port has expressed its condolences and stated that it is cooperating fully with the authorities and assisting the contractors in supporting the worker's family. The Ministry of Manpower emphasized that all construction structures must be erected and repositioned according to approved designs, with strict controls in place to manage the risk of toppling. As the investigation continues, the focus remains on determining why the structure failed during the repositioning process and ensuring that safety protocols were followed.