The man reportedly said he had gone into the chamber before without issue and entered wearing only an N95 mask for protection.
New: You can now listen to articles.SINGAPORE: A 44-year-old Malaysian died by suffocation in an oxygen-deprived underground chamber that was part of machinery meant to stun animals before slaughter in a pig abattoir.
The chamber was about 2.3m by 3m, and was around 3.8m deep. The top of the chamber was not fully enclosed, to allow gondolas to revolve in and out. However, at the time of the accident, the safety interlock switch had reportedly been damaged, with the replacement in the midst of being connected and tested.
While one of the workers, Mr Kathiravan Narajan, was dismantling a bracket that secured the machinery door bearing, the bracket slipped and fell into the underground chamber. Mr Hoe knew that there was no spare bracket lying around. Instead, he went to the machine, wanting to enter the manhole to retrieve the bracket.
Mr Hoe put on the mask and entered the chamber. He began shivering. About 30 seconds after entering, he tried to climb back up the ladder to exit, but collapsed and fell back into the chamber, losing consciousness. Mr Hoe had three children with his wife, named only as Madam How, and the family lived in Johor Bahru.
The oxygen level at the bottom of the chamber near Mr Hoe's breathing zone was 13.5 per cent, which was not within the safe range of 19.5 to 23.5 per cent oxygen as stipulated in the Workplace Safety and Health Regulations. The order was lifted in October 2023 after the company put into place control measures to prevent the recurrence of such an accident.
Coroner Findings Coroner's Court
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