Employer fined after maid fell to death
Posted: 03 May 2012 1250 hrs
SINGAPORE: The employer of a foreign domestic helper who fell from height and died, has been slapped with a maximum fine of S$5,000.
Gan Hui Leung, 46, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one charge of failing to ensure her then-domestic helper, Ms Siti Ustima, performed her duties in a safe manner during the term of employment.
She was also barred from hiring foreign maids in the future.
Gan is the first person to be convicted this year for failing to ensure the safety of foreign maids.
Court documents showed Ms Siti, who was then 25 years old, had worked for Gan from April 2010 to November 2011.
Under Gan's employment, one of the deceased's duties was to clean the living room windows of the Clementi flat, which is on the fifth floor.
Although she has seen her Indonesian helper clean windows while standing on a stool with the grilles and windows open, Gan never stopped the maid or taught her a safer method of doing her work.
On November 11 last year at about 1pm, Ms Siti was seen cleaning the living room windows while standing on a chair.
Shortly after, there was a loud noise and she was found lying at the foot of the block of flats.
Ms Siti sustained multiple injuries from the fall and died.
For her failure to ensure her helper worked in a manner that did not endanger her life, Gan could have been jailed up to six months, fined S$5,000, or both.
In submissions, the prosecution urged the district judge to order the maximum fine to send a deterrent message to employers of foreign maids.
This is especially so, given the high number of incidences over the past four months.
Between January and April, eight foreign maids fell to their deaths while performing their duties.
Of these, five stemmed from cleaning windows.
But Gan's lawyer argued there had not been any specific instruction from his client, for Ms Siti to clean the outer surface of the windows.
The lawyer added that Gan "accepts full responsibility and is deeply remorseful".
To this, the prosecution stressed that while Gan did not give specific instructions for the helper to clean the outside of the windows, she failed to ensure and instruct safe practices.
The Manpower Ministry said it is the employer who bears the ultimate responsibility of ensuring the well-being and safety of foreign maids.
This includes supervising her, especially when the maid is new, to ensure that she practices workplace safety and is not put in situations which endanger her life.
MOM said from 2007 to 2011, 24 foreign maids have fallen to their deaths while at work.
Fourteen employers were found to have breached the work permit conditions for endangering the lives of foreign maids.
Nine were prosecuted and fined up to S$5,000, and were permanently barred from hiring foreign maids.
The remaining employers had their offences compounded.
- CNA/wk/wm
