Keppel Shipyard found non-compliant on safety standards

The Singapore-based Keppel Subic Shipyard, the employer of the six Filipino workers who died in an accident while working on a container ship in Subic, Zambales some two weeks ago, was found to be non-compliant of the country’s safety standards.

Labor officials, in relaying the matter to Senate probers yesterday during the initial investigation of the incident, said the company was reportedly in rush to complete simultaneously contracted job orders, compromising apparently the safety and health measures needed at the site.

“Simultaneous repair works were done to fast-track the completion of the project because of the approaching deadline. This led to inadequate safety and health measure on the job being done at the site,” Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Undersecretary Lourdes Trasmonte told the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada who presided the hearing said that it appears the management will have to account for its apparent negligence as even police investigation seems to be pointing toward this direction.

The casualties were part of the repair crew working on the M/V Tombarra, a 22,650-ton container ship, with the capacity to carry within its massive girth more than 6,000 cars.

Last Oct. 7, four days before the supposed deadline, the elevated platform reportedly being used as a bridge by the workers repairing M/V Tombarra at the drydock of Keppel Shipyard Ltd. in Barangay Cawag, gave way and fell on the workers below it.

But the senator refused to make any conclusion at this point, saying that he will have to see for himself the condition of the shipyard site, located inside the Subic Economic Freeport Zone, when he conducts an on site inspection on Wednesday.

Transmonte also told the committee that she noted that there was only one support tower that was under the stern ramp, a bridge way where cars were driven over to be loaded on the ship of the M/V Tombarra.

This could have also affected the weight of the ramp that caused the collapse.

At that time, there were at least 230 workers working in the shipyard were installing an anti-pirate plate, a structure preventing small sea vessels to grapple at the ship’s stern.

“Personnel movement, the weight of materials used and the ramp itself might have caused the cables (support) to tighten up at the drum, thereby making jerking motion to the ramp. This sudden jerking caused the cables to snap on one side and loosen on the other side,” she said

Keppel president Mok Kim Whang apologized before the committee for the accident, adding that his company intend to cover for all the expenses of the workers and also assure assistance to the families of the victims.

He also assured that safety is their company’s top priority and will review all its processes, especially in compliance to the DoLE’s safety standards.

“It is because of our concern for safety that we face this incident with humility while we discharge our responsibility as consciously as we can,” he said.

Also during the hearing, a confrontation of sort took place when Occupational Safety and Health Center executive director Ma. Theresa Cucueco, accused Peza deputy director Mary Harriet Abordo for supposedly not adhering to their memorandum of agreement (MoA) when they were allegedly practically barred from inspecting the site after the accident.

Under the said MoA, the two agencies are supposed to allow the conduct of regular safety inspections on foreign firms operating in special economic zones on safety and health standards.

Transmonte raised similar issues, saying its officials allegedly impeded the conduct of investigation when representatives of the department’s regional office were not allowed to enter the Keppel premises and were supposedly told that such procedure has already done by Peza.

Even the Zambales provincial policemen were not able to conduct a proper investigation on the accident cite as “the scene was already tainted” when they were allowed to proceed by Peza and shipyard security to document the incident after critical hours to preserve evidence have been lost.

“Equipment and materials have been moved and debris was already cleared. We may not have engineering expertise to determine the cause of neglect but if we could have documented the site properly, we all won’t be left in the dark,” police Senior Supt. Francisco Santiago, officer-in-charge of the provincial police office, said.

Subic Mayor Jefferson Khonghun also pointed his finger at Peza for being “overly secretive” in the operations of foreign investors in the economic zone and boxes out the jurisdiction for the local government.

Keppel is said to be engaged in ship repair and conversion, shipbuilding and offshore engineering. –Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune