GEORGE TOWN: A safety officer stationed at the site of the fatal Oct 21 landslide in Tanjung Bungah here today defended his issuance of a safety memo two months before the tragedy at the affordable housing site.
In the state commission of inquiry (SCI) proceedings today, Raj Kumar Shanmugam said he prepared a memo, dated Aug 1, addressed to earthwork contractor Kamsen Construction Sdn Bhd and piling contractor Chuan Un Chye (M) Sdn Bhd (CUC).
On why he had issued the memo, Raj Kumar said he came to know there was soil erosion and cracks at the existing soil nailing area on July 11 last year.
He proceeded to take photographs of the affected area and sent them to a WhatsApp group, which included representatives from both contractors.
“I stated there that, to whoever it may concern, there was soil erosion and cracks in the soil nailing area. I advised, if there was any water seepage, to divert it.
“I also asked them to rectify the cracks and also to check the slope conditions regularly.”
However, he said he did not get a response from either party, except from his own employers.
Raj Kumar said the issue was subsequently highlighted in two weekly audits. It was also raised with the state health committee on July 20. It was then that he decided to issue the memo, he said.
“There was no improvement and nothing was done. So I issued a memo. I mentioned it to my chairman and my committee members, and they agreed.
“My concern was also on the rectification of the slope. When you see something wrong there, you must say it is unsafe.”
When the memo was subsequently issued to the two contractors on Aug 1, Raj Kumar said CUC sent its site supervisor to collect the memo. Kamsen sent a backhoe operator to receive the memo.
“The issuance of the memo was not wrong. I have to be true to myself and to be true to the 11 souls that were lost,” he said.
‘Definitely unsafe’
Raj Kumar, who was on site every day, except for his regular day off, said while he was not a slope expert, “common sense says you need to rectify the affected area before continuing work” and said that it was “definitely unsafe for the workers there”.
To a question on whether he was on site on the day of the tragedy, Raj Kumar replied in the negative, saying he was on long leave.
He was subsequently informed of the incident by one of his assistants and rushed back to Penang.
He said beore he went on leave, the soil erosion problem had not been rectified.
“When we see soil erosion and cracks, of course I want them to rectify it. I said to please rectify it before you want to build anything.
“Some asked why I was being such a busybody and passed the memo to them. It is my initiative. I was just doing my job as a safety officer.”
Raj Kumar added that every time he raised the issue and asked what would be done to rectify the situation, the answer was always the same — “cover with plastic sheets”.
“Everytime I highlighted the issue, plastic sheets were the solution.
“It came to the point of me just thinking ‘okay lah, since you are the expert and you said you are attending to it, I will stop being a busybody’ and I decided to focus on my work.”
In the incident at the Lengkok Lembah Permai project site last October, a landslide resulted in the collapse of a retaining wall on the construction site and buried 11 workers.
The deceased comprised a local man, five Bangladeshis, two Indonesians, two Myanmars and a Pakistani.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had previously said the inquiry will follow the same format as those set up for the Menara Umno, Jalan Macalister, building antennae collapse and the Second Penang Bridge ramp collapse in 2013, that claimed the lives of three people.
The inquiry resumes tomorrow. -FMT
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