Safety lapses found at Hanjin

SUBIC BAY Freeport: The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority bared Monday that initial findings indicated safety lapses at the Hanjin jobsite in its investigation Saturday, one day after an accident that led to two fatalities and some injuries to shipyard workers.

The company is urged to first meet all occupational health and safety standards

By Anthony Bayarong, Manila Times Correspondent

SUBIC BAY Freeport: The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority bared Monday that initial findings indicated safety lapses at the Hanjin jobsite in its investigation Saturday, one day after an accident that led to two fatalities and some injuries to shipyard workers.

In a statement, SBMA said that its Occupational Health and Safety Division of Ecology Center said that a post-accident investigation conducted on Saturday showed seven safety lapses at the Hanjin job site.

These include the lack of effective emergency response procedures, and the lack of safety officers to oversee operations, especially in hazardous work places.

Amethya D.L. Koval, manager of the SBMA Ecology Center, said the OHSD findings tallied with initial Hanjin reports that the most probable cause of the fire was ignition of leaking oxygen gas, and that the fire “may have been exacerbated by the presence of lube oil on the floor of the working area.”

But further investigation Koval said that the SBMA team found out that proper inspection procedures to ensure the operational soundness of equipment and materials used in jobsites were lacking.

“Considering the degree of burns suffered by the victims, there seemed to have been inadequate precautionary measures in handling hazardous materials, and inadequate provision of appropriate fire-extinguishing equipment,” the report added.

Safety and warning signs in high-risk and hazardous work places to remind workers on the hazards of the job site were also lacking.

Finally, the team noted that at the time of the accident only one company nurse was on duty at the jobsite, as the services of a company physician has reportedly not been acquired.

“Under occupational safety and health standards, the presence of only one health worker in the shipyard is inadequate,” the OHSD report concluded.

To prevent the occurrence of accidents in the Hanjin shipyard, the SBMA investigating team recommended for the company to first meet all occupational health and safety standards as determined by concerned government agencies, including the SBMA.

The investigators also said Hanjin should establish a health safety and environment (HSE) unit composed of adequately-trained technical personnel to oversee the implementation of HSE programs, to avail only of the services of SBMA-accredited service contractors, and to secure the services of a third-party auditor for safety compliance.

Before this, the management of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. (HHIC-Phil Inc.) assured the SBMA that it would implement proper safety measures in its Redondo shipyard after Administrator Arreza ordered a full-scale investigation into the company’s safety program.

Calling the accident on Friday a “terrible tragedy,” HHIC-Phils. President Jeong Sup Shim said Hanjin officials “sincerely condole with the families and relatives of victims of this tragedy and assured them all necessary assistance.”