Ex-cleaner Jailed Over Safety Lapse Linked to Security Officer's Death

Floor slabs covering pit where gondola was stored not put back, leading to fatal fall

- Shaffiq Alkhatib

To use a gondola for facade cleaning at One Raffles Place, a man and his co-workers removed two floor slabs that covered a 4m-deep pit where the gondola was stored on the rooftop of the 63-storey building.

Freelance facade cleaning worker Suresh Kumar Shanmugam, who was the one giving work-related instructions at the time, failed to put back the slabs.

Tragedy struck on June 9, 2019, when part-time security officer Shaun Tung Mun Hon, 26, fell into the pit near the 1-Altitude rooftop bar. Mr Tung suffered a head injury and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

On July 15, Suresh, 63, who is now unemployed, was sentenced to two months' jail after he pleaded guilty to performing a negligent act, which endangered the safety of others and contributed to Mr Tung's death.

Ministry of Manpower prosecutors Melvyn Low and Nur Ishameena stated in court documents that at the time of the offence, restaurant and bar operator Synergyinthesky ran the 1-Altitude rooftop bar.

Property developer OUB Centre (OUBC), which was a co-owner of One Raffles Place, had engaged a firm called A&P Maintenance Services to clean the property's common areas.