A Filipino non-resident worker (NRW) died in a work accident in a hotel on Avenida Doutor Henry Fok in Cotai, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said in a statement yesterday, adding that he was believed to have been struck on the head during a routine inspection of the elevator pit.
According to the statement, the 51-year-old male victim, surnamed Bautista, was a technician carrying out a regular elevator pit inspection at the Northern lobby of the hotel, with his colleague at around 7 a.m. yesterday.
The statement pointed out that at the time of the accident, the victim was in the pit on Lower Level 2 (LL2), while his colleague who was on Lower Level 1 (LL1) was called by the victim over the walkie talkie to turn on the cog rotation to check whether any of the machine parts were faulty.
The statement said that the colleague immediately stopped the machine after he had heard a loud sound and then rushed down to LL2 to look for the victim after he had failed to receive a response over the walkie talkie.
The statement noted that the colleague found the victim hanging on the crossbeam of the pit with no reaction when he arrived at the scene. Hence, he immediately notified his superiors and contacted the police, the statement said.
According to the statement, the Judiciary Police suspect that the victim’s head was caught in the gear when he was inspecting the cog rotation, causing his immediate death.
Upon body examination, apart from a fracture on the victim’s skull, no suspicious injuries were found, the statement said.
The statement noted that the case has been listed as a dead body found. It added that the cause of death still needs to be confirmed by forensic examination.
According to the statement, as the case involved a work accident, the Judiciary Police reported the case to the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL).
A statement by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday said that the accident occurred at Wynn Palace.
DSAL ‘highly’ concerned
Meanwhile, according to a DSAL statement yesterday, the Labour Affairs Bureau is “highly” concerned about the death of the Filipino NRW in a work accident at the hotel in the morning. It expressed its sadness at the fatal accident.
The statement noted that the bureau has expressed “deep” sympathy to the victim’s bereaved family and will assist it in the compensation details.
In order to protect the safety of workers, the bureau has informed the employer to stop all work at the accident site and requested the employer to submit an accident investigation report, the statement said, adding that the bureau will continue to investigate the cause of the accident while pursuing the responsible entity in accordance with the results of the investigation.
The bureau reaffirmed that the safety of workers is of “paramount” importance, adding that all employers are obligated to conduct a safety assessment of their working environment to set construction safety procedures and supervise their employees to carry out work in accordance with their working safety procedures to protect workers’ lives.
The statement underlined that in order to raise employees and employers’ awareness on safety, health and working conditions, the bureau will further strengthen the promotion of occupational safety and continue to carry out inspections to encourage employers and their workers to work safely.
This handout photo provided by the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) yesterday shows two DSAL staff members inspecting the scene where a work accident happened at Wynn Palace in Cotai earlier in the day.
