Raj Kumar, who works with Choong Con (PG) Sdn Bhd said many blamed him over the incident, and he could not sleep for a week.
“The lives of the 11 people are as valuable as yours or mine.
“I was very traumatised by the incident. I may even consider quitting my job,” he told proceedings today.
When asked by commission chairman Yeo Yang Poh on what he would have done differently in retrospect, Raj Kumar said he would have tried his level best to convince his project manager to stop work, which he failed to do.
“In future, if you feel something is unsafe, repeat the memos you have written, so when things happen there would not be the situation of everyone pointing fingers.
“Everyone pointed finger at me. I couldn’t sleep for a week.
“I do not know why they don’t recognise safety before any accidents happen, but after it happens it becomes a big issue,” he said.
Raj Kumar also agreed with a suggestion by Yeo that when work was progressing, safety was priority only in theory, but in practice the work would continue.
“Now I see it is all about progress first, safety last. It’s about progress, progress, progress. They will say ‘jangan henti, kita kena bayar’ (don’t stop, if not we will have to pay),” he said.
On how this culture could be changed, Raj Kumar was then quick to point out that he was not blaming his company or his bosses, and that he always consulted with them.
He said that his dissatisfaction lay with the site management, stating that he had worked in other companies which had given him the power to stop work, while there were others who only wanted advice and recommendations.
“But here I had no power to stop work. It would be good if one day the power is given to the safety officer to stop work, to be the decision maker,” he said, adding that everything now went through the project manager.
The safety culture, Raj Kumar said, has to begin from the management. He also said that the project manager must have knowledge on safety and that they should be sent for safety courses.
“All this while, we trust the project manager to make decisions. It is not only focusing on progress. They must know how to practise the culture of safety as well,” he added.
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 dead comprised a local man, five Bangladeshis, two Indonesians, two Myanmars and a Pakistani.
The inquiry resumes tomorrow.
Tg Bungah tragedy: Soil erosion went unheeded, says safety officer