By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Sept 26: A construction company was fined a total of RM80,000 for failing to comply with Department of Occupational Safety And Health regulations to provide a safe working environment and causing the death of one of its workers due to negligence.
A representative from Liew Brothers Construction Co pleaded guilty to both charges.
Sessions Court Judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad sentenced the company to a fine of RM40,000 or in default to six months’ imprisonment for the first charge, and a fine of RM40,000 or in default to six months’ imprisonment for the second charge.
The company was charged with failing to ensure the safety of a lift on the 11th floor of a 12-storey PR1MA apartment and community facilities project in Pending Industrial Estate, where its employees were working, at about 12.15pm on December 28, 2018.
The company was charged under Section 10(e) of the Factory and Machinery Act 1967 which is punishable under Section 51(2) of the same Act, where if no penalty is expressly provided and if guilty of an offence, a person shall be liable to a fine not exceeding RM50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.
The company was also charged with failing to ensure the scaffolding in a block at the said construction site was installed with complete, practical and safe stairs and a working platform to ensure the safety of workers while they were performing their job. In relation to this negligence, an Indonesian worker had fallen from the 11th floor and died, at about 12.15pm on December 28, 2018.
The company was charged under Section 15(2)(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 which is punishable under Section 19 of the same Act, and carries a fine not exceeding RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both, upon conviction.
Liew Brothers Construction Co was represented by counsel Gerald Donald. — DayakDaily
