CMA483 - CASE STUDY _ PILING WORKS

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND SURVEYING
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS.) CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT

CMA483 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
CASE STUDY : PILING WORKS

PREPARED BY:

NO NAME STUDENT NO.

1 NUR FARAH SURIA BINTI ABDUL RAZAK 2022149501

2 NIK NURSIMAH BINTI ABU KASIM 2022102051

3 NURUL ILLYANA BINTI MD KAMAL 2022787193

4 ANDERSON BUNYAU ANAK PATRICK NGUMBANG 2022314665

CLASS: AP2464A

LECTURER: MISS FAZEERA UJIN

SEMESTER 1
SESSION MAC - AUGUST 2022

11 JULY 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENT PAGES

BIL DESCRIPTION 3-4

1.0 INTRODUCTION 5-6
a) Objective
b) Principle of HIRARC 7 - 17
c) Benefit of HIRARC 18
18
2.0 BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY
- Introduction
- Examples of Hazard
- Piling Rig
- Key components of a safe piling rig operational plan
include

3.0 DISCOVER OF ANALYSIS
a) Factors in the activity that caused the accident
b) Roots of accident
c) Who should be responsible to the accident
d) How to prevent such accident
e) HIRARC

4.0 CONCLUSION

5.0 REFERENCES

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

This paper is based on a study case in Malaysia. An accident involving piling
rig machinery occurred at a construction site recently. Nowadays, a lot of workers
make light of the regulation safety and health on the construction site. For this
reason, numerous incidents happen that involved other’s life. To prevent accidents,
one must know the causes in the working environment such as inherently hazardous
construction projects, personal and project factors, and mechanisms or equipment
that lead to accidents. Hence, it is a must to apply HIRARC to reduce the incidence
in construction sites. Furthermore, when we apply HIRARC it can also improve the
quality of work and clients put trust in the company. HIRARC is stand for Hazard
Identification, Risk Assessment, and Control, it is the process for occupational health
and safety risk management. An organizing need to identify risks through the process
of finding, recognizing, and describing the risk that is present in the workplace.

HIRARC is included Hazard Identification, Risk assessment, and Risk control. Hazard
Identification is the recognizing of things that may cause injury or harm to a person.
We can see through incident piling work on construction, that the authorities shall
take the responsibility to inspect the heavy machines daily prior to commencement
of work, therefore, it can prevent any incident during working. Risk assessment is
the looking possibility of injury or harm occurring to a person if exposed to a hazard.
Lastly, Risk control is the introduction of measures that will eliminate or reduce the
risk of a person being exposed to a hazard. There are 5 principles of risk assessment
which is identifying the hazards, deciding who might be harmed and how, evaluating
the risk and taking action to prevent them, recording your finding, and reviewing
the risk assessment.

The purpose of hazard identification is to determine the critical operation of tasks.
In this case study of piling work, most incidents happened cause of the collapse of
pile driving equipment, and loss of loads where piles were being hoisted. This is due
to the authorities do not carry out the inspection before any work commence. The
risk assessment process should be continuous and should be continues and should
not be regarded as a one-off exercise.

a) OBJECTIVE

Construction site accident are always happened in every year. In line with the
efforts to reduce the rates of accidents in construction is to always do research or
inspection before do work commence. In relation on construction sites in Malaysia
the objectives of the study cases in Malaysia are to determine the current safety
practices and to identify the strategies to reduce the safety practices related
problems. Besides, according to Occupational Accident Statistics by Sector Until
March 2020 (Reported by DOSH only) the rates in Malaysia that involved minor and
major incident are 72 workers. In addition, in the sector of construction we need to
emphasize on identifying the cause of the incident on construction sites.

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This is very important because from the identify of the cause, we can record it hence
if the event happen again, the authorities can refer from the record that have been
recorded. Furthermore, the objective of the study case is to provide the current
information to workers and provide training safety and health so that the workers
know how to act when unexpected things happen and the workers will more deeply
sensitive about PPE usage before work commence. Also, to create awareness
towards the risk that might danger to employees and employers. This could be the
“falling teaches us to walk safely” talk or the “caution is the parents of safety”
speech. Last but not least, make a batter management system in the workplace on
construction sites. Yet, discipline employees who behave in ways to harm
themselves or others.

b) PRINCIPLE OF HIRARC

The principle of HIRARC is to manage safety and health in a workplace so the
work will be more organized. Otherwise, managing safety and health will develop
the employers and employees to be more aware of every hazard in the workplace.
Indeed, in section 15(2)a(a) of OSHA, the provision and maintenance and system of
work that is, as far as is practicable safe and without risk to health.

c) BENEFIT OF HIRARC

An accident can define as unplanned event insulting an individual harm or in
property damage. The accident can become worse if authorities did not take action
about the incident that has happened in the workplace. Besides, inspection should
be performed to prevent further similar event and any business loss. Furthermore,
an accident also can be prevented if moral and knowledge has been applied to
employees and employers. When we applying HIRARCH in construction site during
working, indirectly will be able to improve the quality of work in construction. Also,
the incident happened in construction created awareness to reduce the fatalities
and temporary loss disabilities.

On the other hand, employers should take action in making work procedure before
work commence because by making work procedure help work more orderly in terms
of performing inspection heavy machine which is piling thoroughly examined by
approved person at least once in 12 months. Regardless of the fact that, proactive
effort to implement risk management system can prevent the majority of incident
indirectly can save cost by being proactive instead of reactive. It is because a good
plan and organize schedule can make the employee’s work more efficient and safer
and they can get home safely without any harm.

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2.0 BACKGROUND OF THE CASE STUDY

Introduction
In Piling Hazard related topics, specifying the use of piles should be aware

and assess the risks from the following principal hazards. It is important when the
risks cannot be eliminated or reduced during process. Principal contractor must
control the hazards and risks as outlined in his construction phase plan.
Examples of Hazard

 Health hazards such as contact with contaminated risings or groundwater and
contact with hazardous materials or dusts.

 Noise, vibration
 Contact with plant or machinery during lifting, slewing and pitching of piling

elements. the movement of piling rigs etc.
 Plant instability caused by gradients, variable ground conditions, and/or

inadequate bearing capacity
 Hazards of buried or overhead services
 Collapse of excavations, nearby structures etc.
Pile foundations are responsible for transmitting heavy concentrated loads of the
superstructure to the underlying competent strata. Installation of pile foundations
requires a lot of heavy-duty equipment, which makes it essential to follow the
standard safety protocols.
Piling Rig
A construction machine mainly used to drill/create piles in soil, clay, etc. Widely
used for cast-in-place piles, diaphragm walls, and foundation reinforcement.
Generally with crawler chassis, box-type mast, and telescopic drill pipe. Mainly used
in foundation engineering of elevated roads, bridges, industrial and civil buildings,
slope protection and others.

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Key components of a safe piling rig operational plan include:
1. Adequate pre-planning, such as does an area accessible to vehicles with
sufficient space to unload items up to 20m in length.
2. Working platform a designated area of the site which the piling rig will travel
during its delivery to site, piling operations, and removal. The ground must be free-
draining to prevent the build-up of water and slurry.
3. Working Platform Certificate The use of ‘Working Platform Certificates’ is
increasingly being seen as -

 the correct procedures have been followed
 the ground is adequate to support the piling rig
 there are no irregularities that could result in local subsidence and toppling
4. Inspection of piling by daily checks. Equipment should be inspected at the start
of each shift or during operations.
5. Inspection of the site during piling. Excavations, trenches, or other holes dug
must be properly backfilled to avoid creating soft spots that might give way under
the tracks of a piling rig.
6. A task specific Risk Assessment and Method Statement should be conducted to
include all hazards and foreseeable risks relating to the delivery to site, erection,
use, movement, dismantling, and removal from site of the piling rig.
7. Operator training. All workers involved (e.g. the piling rig operator; lifting
supervisor; rigger and signalman/banksman) should be trained and competent in
their specific duties.
8. Permits to Work should be prepared by a person familiar with the piling work
procedures, the hazards involved and the precautions to be taken.
9. A qualified banksman who must always be in the line of sight of the operator to
supervised piling rig movements.
10. Pre-planning should include consideration of mobile maintenance and refueling
stations so that such operations can be brought to the rig and conducted without
tracking the rig backwards and forwards to fixed maintenance or refueling points.

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3.0 DISCOVER ANALYSIS

a) FACTORS IN THE ACTIVITY THAT CAUSED THE ACCIDENT

As reported in the article above, there were stated one of the possible factors that
can be a reason the pile rig to fall and causing the death of the pair of husband and
wife. Stated factor was the possibility of the pile rig’s iron wheel to be slipped from
its holder that causes instability of the pile rig. Besides the one stated, there’s also
few other possible factors that may cause such incident to happen. These are the
factors and how it can be the reason:
1. Misconduct of the Operator

- The operator may have operated his machinery recklessly that cause the pile
rig to have a sudden change of motion resulting the overturn/fall.

2. Ground break uneven
- There is also possibility of the ground where the rig placed during the incident
break up due to it cant withstand the weight of the machinery. A soil failure.
This will make the rig sunk into the soil and creates instability.
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3. Unfitness of machinery
- If the pile rig has not been inspected for a period of time, the machine may
have problem especially on its movement that may cause it to be in order and
hard to operate by the operator resulting a hard swerve that cause overturn

4. Overload Carry
- Each machinery has its own maximum load to carry. There is possibility that
the rig is heavy compare supposed load bearing that can be carry by its body.

b) ROOTS OF ACCIDENT
After a thorough investigation have been made, the roots of accident were

detected due to the piling rig was place on a weak strength ground which cant
withstand the load and weight of the rig. When the ground cant withstand the load
from the rig, no matter how the rig base was spread to enlarge its stability, the rig
will go down together with the soil/earth underneath. Its like a building built with
a strong foundation but built on a poor strength earth such as sand and yellow soil.

During the incident, the rig conductor was lifting a cast iron plate to place on the
ground for a stronger base substitution (to place the rig on a proper stronger and
more even surface). The conductor was just about to place the iron plate to be the
substitution base but the rig is now moving on a soft ground while lifting. As the
ground was soft, resulting ground to unable to withstand rig’s load, the ground break
and the rig felt. From here we can say that the contractor wanted to create a proper

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strong and even surface for the placement/base of the rig but as they about to
prepare the base, this happens. In my opinion, the base was supposed to be place
even before the rig drive into the area of work to always ensure enough strength to
withhold the rig’s load. This does point to a misconduct due to improper planning
during transportation of rig to site or the planning of rig’s mobility.

c) WHO SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE TO THE ACCIDENT?
When such incident happened
involving the death of civilian,
DOSH will immediately send their
Officers to location to do
investigation on how the incident
happen and to find all roots and who
to blame on such occurrence. The
order of site to be close is a proper
and normal procedure to be done to
do further investigation and to reset
site to a proper and safe condition
before it can continue work. All site
condition and safety will be check
thoroughly by the DOSH Officers.
They will then request for all Safety
Department documentations to be
submit to them for proper checking.
The documents including HIRARC,
Method Statements, Personal
Protection Equipment List,
Induction Report and etc. This is to
ensure there will be no more of such
occurrence to happen in future.

This case is obviously a fault done by the contractor in charge which is the West
Course Expressway Sdn. Bhd. But who is the one or the specific personnel that should
take responsibility of such incident? We will make a review and discussion at some
of the personnel who should answer to the why and how this fatal accident
happened.

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Based on the report by Berita
Harian, 3 personnel were
arrested to assist in the
investigation by the Klang Utara
District Police. They are the
Piling Rig Conductor,
Construction Manager and the
Health and Safety Officer of the
Project. We will discuss
thoroughly of why these 3
personnel was arrested and yet
we would like to bring forward
another 2 more personnel to
discuss about their responsibility
on this which is the Machinery
Supervisor and the Traffic
Officer. The 5 personnel that
should take responsibility of the
incidents are:

 Construction Manager
 Piling Rig Conductor
 Safety and Health Officer
 Machinery Inspector
 Traffic Officer

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

When a team lose, the one who first to
answer is of course the leader. This is
why the Construction manager were
arrested. All the Authorize personnel
of the project will surely report to him
and he should always be aware of any
activities that is ongoing at site.

Construction Manager should check
each progress and technical process to
be done at site. On this case, the
Construction Manager should know how the movement of the Pile Rig to its position.
This happen when the Construction Manager trust his employee and only focus on
the progress instead of taking care of the process itself.

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Besides that, he as a Construction Manager should have known that the Site are
located in urban area with traffic access for the public. He should have ordered a
proper planning on how the work should be done to ensure no fatal or hazards might
happen to his workers and the public.

The Construction Manager may be investigated under the Section 15,16,17,18 of the
Occupational Safety and Health 1994 representing the company as he is the company
representative.

 Section 15, OSHA 1994 - General Duties of the Employers to their employees;
due to the accident happened resulting the injury of the employee.

 Section 16, OSHA 1994 - Duty to Formulate safety and Health Policy; to know
whether the method statement of doing the work involving heavy machinery
which in this case is the pile rig, were followed accordingly

 Section 17, OSHA 1994 - Duty of the employer to persons other than his
employees; as this case does resulting to a death of two public.

 Section 18, OSHA 1994 - Duty of Occupier of a workplace to persons other
than his employee; same as above where this case involved the death of two
public.

 And if found guilty, based on section 19, he or she may be sentenced to
Maximum 2 years of imprisonment or Penalty of RM 50,000.00 or both. In
2022, the Penalty has been amended to RM 500,000.00.

PILING RIG OPERATOR

As the first hand to the incident, the one who directly involved, the one who conduct
the activity that cause the fatality, its absolute that the operator will be the one to
take responsibility. He is the first one that need to answer on any question on the
incident.

As a Piling Rig Operator, this
person is qualified as a Competent
Person as stated in the Section 29,
FMA 1967; and BOWEC1986 Piling
Regulations No 127; only a trained
and competent operator can
operate such heavy machinery and
should be a person who is very
good in every inch of his Job.

He should have known to always put the base iron plate even before he even go on
top of the newly compacted surface no matter the surface is dry or wet. To set a
strong, balance and even surface for the machinery to stand on is one of the basic
and a must practice by a competent conductor.

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Base on the investigation, the pile rig felt due to imbalance as the earth/surface
where the rig stand is soft/low strength. As we can see in the article, the ground
was breaking apart as the rig’s wheel dug into it. This is a negligence of malpractice
by the Pile Rig Operator that should have known his basic as it was all taught in the
training before one operator may get his license.

The Pile Rig Operator should be investigated Under the Factory and Machinery
Act(FMA) Building Operations and Works of Engineering construction (BOWEC1986);
General Provision Regulations No.5, Piling Regulations no 134 and Section 24,
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)1994.

 BOWEC 1986, General Provisions No.5 -Fencing of Machinery and Safety; an
operator should only agree to work when his area was cleared or by least
being fence by safe perimeter from any unauthorized personnel as he should
be more aware of the risk and hazard of his own machinery.

 BOWEC 1986, Piling Regulations No 134 -Footing; the Pile Rig Operator should
inquire of the ground strength and firmness before proceed to bring in his
machinery into the site. He is also obligated to prepare a strong footing for
his rigger by placing the iron plate even before he landed on the newly
compacted ground. As we can see from the article, the footing was poor
resulting to the fall of the pile rig that ended stomping the two public.

 BOWEC 1986, Penalty Regulations No 154 - Any found guilty of so will be
sentence to a fine of Up to RM 2,000.00.

 Section 24, OSHA 1994 - General Duties of Employee at Work (1); to always
take reasonable care for safety and health of himself or others who may be
affected by his omissions at work. If found guilty, to be sentenced to
Imprisonment of not more than 3 months, Fine of RM 1,000.00 or Both.

SAFETY AND HEALTH OFFICER

Anything involving hazards, risk, fatality
and accident at site, will surely be the
responsibility of the Safety and Health
Officer. That is the why the Safety and
Health Officer (SHO) were taken into
custody or to assist the investigation. No
matter what accident happen at site; he
must be responsible as he is the one who
in charge of all safety at work. He is like a
caretaker of all the sheep in the farm; a sheep gone, even though its the wolf who
stole it, its still a question to be answer by the caretaker to his master. All souls on

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site were his responsibility. The SHO will surely be question on his inspection
activities, has he done any induction or reminded all the personnel involve on safety
and precautions on that day, is he aware or not of the work done and how the piling
work done, has he built HIRARC base on the work to be done and so on. He also will
be required to hand in all his Safety Department records and documentation to
determine whether he did his job or not. When the site is registered with DOSH, the
SHO will also be the employer’s Representative to observe and to inspect all work
activity and to ensure there is no risk towards the company personnel or the public
and no safety rules are to be broken.

In this case, the SHO will surely be investigate base on ALL the available policies and
regulations that exist might it be the OSHA 1994, FMA 1967, or BOWEC 1986. If he is
proven to be guilty against any of the clause available, he will be considered to doing
negligence of malpractice as a Safety Officer.

Most probable clause for him to be charge against is the Section 24 OSHA on his
responsibility as Employee and also the Section 15,16,17,18,19 of OSHA 1994 for the
Employer Section as he is the Employer’s Representative to guide all personnel in
workplace on Safety and Health.

MACHINERY INSPECTOR

Before any work involving heavy machinery, it is a must for this person to do proper
inspection on the machinery’s fitness, who will operate it, what work and which
suitable machine to use, where the machinery is going to be use, and so on. Every
single inch of the machinery’s safety and usage are to be taken care by this
Machinery Inspector.

In this West Course Expressway case, the
machinery inspector should have known
earlier that the machine has to work on
a strong and compact surface and to
ensure, he should order the placement
of iron plate as footing/base even before
he allowed the pile rig to enter the
site/work area. Once the inspection was
done thoroughly including the proper
work base for the heavy machinery has
been set, then the machinery inspector
can approve or allow the work to start.

In this case, the Machinery Inspector has overlooked the preparation of iron plate
base when moving pile rig into the site area and never inquiry of the ground strength
before implementation of work. That is why the Pile Rig happen to felt when it
wanted to set the base for its footing.

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The one thing must always to be taken note about a new site is that the ground
might not yet been compacted to its final load or the ground strength might not be
at its best strength after the site clearing were done. Therefore, it is best for the
Machinery Inspector or the Operator to inquiry of the ground strength from the site
engineer before proceed any work at high load.

This machinery Inspector can be investigated by Section 24, OSHA 1994 of the
General Duties of Employee; as well as to be investigated his practice base on all
clause in BOWEC 1986 and the FMA 1967. This is also one example of carelessness
and malpractice at work resulting accident.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT OFFICER

Whenever there is life traffic or any access of public vehicle passing through
the site/work area, it is a must to prepare a proper and safe route for the public
passer around the radius parameter. If possible, no traffic should can enter the site
or going near the danger radius parameter during critical work is ongoing.

In this case, the Axia car passing through the site were unaware of possible hazard
that may have fall onto them. The Traffic Management Officer (TMO) together with
the SHO should have investigate the probable radius of danger area and set a
parameter or by best to set a re-route or diversion away from the work area. Maybe
there was a limitation to do so but the traffic management team should be present
during heavy lifting activity nearby public route.

Should the TMO has order
and arrange a proper re-
route/diversion, even if
the piling rig falls, it wont
endanger the safety of
public passer. Besides, if
the TMO and the SHO
happen to realize the
probable area of danger,
and set a barricade base
on the parameter, this
type of incident may not
happen.

To blame on TMO in this case is quite subjective as the TMO does report his planning
and work to the SHO, yet if its investigated under Section 24, OSHA 1994 and the
TMO found guilty as not to prepare proper safe route with or without
acknowledgement of the SHO, he might as well be sentenced accordingly.

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d) HOW TO PREVENT SUCH ACCIDENT?

1. Hazard Investigation, Risk Assessment & Risk Control (HIRARC)

 The contractor should do a thorough discussion and proper listing of
any possible activity to be done according to each process of the work before
commencement. Hazard Investigation, Risk Assessment and Risk Control
(HIRARC) shall always be the guide in every activity to detect any potential
risk and hazard to the workers, personnel and the public. With the
implementation of HIRARC, all prevention of possible hazard and risk may be
prepared to ensure no more of such incident to happen.

 In this case, of falling pile rig; such incident occurrence is very rare yet
almost never happened but once it happened, it may result to at least 1
fatality and a huge amount of property damage. Such incident might never
happen before but it should be an eye opener and an example to every future
project to take into account of possibility of such hazard involves during
preparation before piling work start.

2. Preparation of a Safe Working Space/Area.

 The contractor/employer should always ensure the site to always be a
safe may it be to the workers or other parties besides the site personnel such
as public and consultant. This is mentioned in Section 15,16,17 and 18 in the
Occupational Safety and Health 1994 act on employers’ duties.

 Safety and Health officer of the contractor should act as the
Employee’s representative to ensure the site is always at super safe condition
and all hazards and risk are prevented and detected.

 Base on the issue in this case study, this site is actually safe but the
carelessness of not putting a proper footing for the pile rig that create the rig
sung into soil due to the low strength and low stability of soil.

 Therefore, the contractor should ensure that the working area for the
pile rig is safe to work at by doing a proper load test on the ground to confirm
the strength and always remind the operator and machinery inspector to
create a proper footing.

3. Practice Proper Operating Discipline. (Only Competent Person)

 The pile rig operator and the machinery inspector are supposed to be
well trained and competent as a person who is handling a very risky machine.
They should always care for every procedure even to take care of the slightest
possible hazard like the preparing of proper footing for the pile rig.

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 When all procedure and training are well followed, this type of incident
can be prevented to its max.
 Base in this case, the operator and inspector never thought of such act
to put proper footing before lifting and place the other iron plate for footing
at the designated place.
4. Proper Planning and High cooperation during High-Risk Work
 Piling works is a very risky work. Therefore, each personnel of the
contractor team should cooperate with each other to think and care for any
possible risk. Then all are to work together base on the planning.

 As example, the TMO should prepare a safe route every time piling
work commence and report to the SHO. SHO then need to confirm the area is
safe by checking the strength of ground with the engineers, and then to tell
it to the Machinery Inspector. The inspector has to inspect the machinery and
its footing before he then gives permission to the operator to start. The TMO
team will always be aware of any possible lifting or hazard that may go across
public’s route.

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e) HIRARC 

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4.0 CONCLUSION

From the level of implementation, the effectiveness of the implementation, and
the feedbacks from the client’s consultants, and the result and comparison of
HIRARC has shown its effectiveness in reducing accidents on construction sites. It
can be conclude that the implementation of HIRARC is indeed effective in reducing
accidents on construction sites. Which risks are in high and extreme level there
possible corrective action also recommended for risk control. When managing safety
on construction sites, HIRARC should be encouraged and made compulsory. While
gaining credentials from consultants as well the implementers themselves, HIRARC
is proven to be effective in controlling hazards and leads to the minimization of
construction accidents.

5.0 REFERENCES

I. DOSH- Jentera Cerucuk Tumbang .Retrieved on 03 June 2022.

https://www.dosh.gov.my/index.php/ms/osh-global-news/538-info-kkp/amaran-
keselamatan/amaran-keselamatan-2016/1834-collapse-of-piling-rig-machinery

II. Astro AWANI- Jentera Cerucuk besi Hempap Kereta,DOSH arah Henti Kerja
Pembinaan. Retrieved 03 June 2022

https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/jentera-cerucuk-besi-hempap-
kereta-dosh-arah-henti-kerja-pembinaan-121557

III. Berita Harian- Pemandu Jentera Cerucuk Besi Ditahan.Retrieved 03 June 2022

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bharian.com.my/amp/taxonomy/term/11/
2016/11/209872/pemandu-jentera-cerucuk-besi-ditahan

IV. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 , Laws Of Malaysia Act 514

V. Factory and Machinery Act 1967, Laws Of Malaysia Act 139

VI. Factory and Machinery ( Building Operations and Works of Engineering
Construction(Safety) Regulations 1986, Factories and Machinery Act 1967(Act 139),
P.U(A) 328/1986, Federal Subsidiary Legislation

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