Report on falling scaffolding incident due within a week

Crash site: Workers inspecting the metal scaffolding of a highway under construction along the Sungai Buloh-Kota Damansara stretch of the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Highway that collapsed. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star

PETALING JAYA: The Works Ministry has ordered the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and an independent consulting engineering firm to submit a report on the scaffolding incident on the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Highway (DASH) within a week.

It also issued a stop-work order involving falsework by Projek Lintasan Damansara-Shah Alam Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), the project developer. Falsework is a temporary framework to support construction work.

“We will also review the report from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh),” it said in a statement.

The metal scaffolding of a highway under construction along the Sungai Buloh-Kota Damansara stretch of the Damansara-Shah Alam Highway collapsed on Saturday night, lightly injuring two workers.

According to the ministry, during the concrete pouring process, the whole construction area was closed to the public as part of its standard operating procedure.

“The same engineering method is in use at 14 locations in the area, four of which had been completed,” said the ministry.

Based on MHA’s initial checks, the scaffolding was in order and certified by the consulting engineer.

“The rest of the work, involving 10 locations can only proceed after the audit report by the Independent Consulting Engineer is completed,” said the ministry.

“The concessionaires had also been ordered to provide appropriate assistance to all the victims involved.”

As a safety precaution, the right lane on both directions of the South Klang Valley Expressway at the site has been closed.

In a separate statement, Damansara-Shah Alam Crossing Project Sdn Bhd said clean-up operations at the site will continue today.

It was temporarily halted at 3pm yesterday due to heavy rain.

For the record, Prolintas chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah said the construction of DASH involved eight main contractors, in addition to the involvement of independent consulting engineers in design, supervision and oversight from various aspects.