Construction safety in Singapore

With the recent published findings of what went wrong with the Nicoll Highway accident, it is interesting to note the current problems plaguing much of the construction industry.
As a managing director of a reputable scaffolding company here once told me, "while it is good and nice to talk about safety measures, the reality is that time pressures, coupled with financial restrictions do make nearly impossible to abide by every rule in the book" - perhaps it will be good for some of our Ministry of Manpower officials and the various construction-related organisations here to drop by work sites for a look (and i am not talking about planned public relations visits).

But the more critical issue that I am trying to make on this point is that safety is not just about straffing a harness on a worker nor just simply having more checks - safety is linked to how an employee views his worker - that his life is not just about dollars and cents, but linked to the infinite worth that he is being created also in the image of God.

After all, if this foundational presupposition that man is made in the image of God is discarded, then one can always argue that losing one worker (and perhaps compensating his family with say, 50,000) is worth the risk if the project can be completed in a shorter time (especially if the company is able to save costs). Better still, if the death of a worker is not reported, then there isnt even any public relations concerns to worry about -

The same MD told me once when he was working together with his workers on site doing some high-risk work when his site foreman urged him to come down from his position saying that "you are the boss's son, you cannot be doing such things"...

The reply: "These men are also the sons of other parents, are you telling me their lives are worth less?"