Worker killed after being buried alive at Ipoh cement plant

IPOH: A worker died after being buried alive while he was breaking hardened cement at at a manhole of a silo of a cement factory in Kinta district here on Monday (Aug 14).

The Perak Occupational Safety and Health Department (JKKP) Director’s Office in a statement here on Wednesday (Aug 16) said that when the incident happened at about 3.15pm, the 26-year-old man along with two colleagues were working to break hardened cement at the manhole of the cement silo using sledgehammers and iron rods.

“The wet cement in the silo splashed out through the manhole and caused the victim to fall and be buried by the cement.

“The victim was rushed to the Sungai Siput Hospital but was confirmed dead by medical officers,” the statement said.

According to the statement, preliminary investigations found that the victim was a general worker of a contractor company which was appointed to do silo cleaning work at the cement factory.

Following the incident, Perak JKKP issued a stop-work notice to the employer to stop the silo cleaning work until improvement actions were taken by the company.

The statement also stated that Perak JKKP would take legal action against the responsible party if there was a violation under the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. – Bernama