Pardon some unglam/disturbing pictures.
Some of my friends may know, I work in the engineering sector and suffered from very bad skin problems since my employment during May-Aug 2018 due to exposure to hazardous materials without protection. I had no knowledge that the fire insulation materials I was interacting with were hazardous back then as the company failed to inform and provide appropriate PPE. Until now I am still suffering from frequent bad flare-ups.
Skin problems surfaced within 2 weeks into the job, I was puzzled on why my skin became so bad suddenly and tried to clean my room and office chair etc in hope of improving the skin condition, but to no avail.
I only found out about the material hazard almost 3 months into the job upon seeing the safety precautions on the boxes in the factory and by doing some research thereafter.
As I have sensitive skin(atopic), it is much harder for me to recover from the irritant contact dermatitis that have been worsening the whole time while working in this company and is much more damaging to my life in terms of the lifestyle and activity changes required to prevent relapses.
This company deals with shutter doors, and in recent years they shifted their focus to fire-insulated shutter doors which involve the use of insulation materials in their shutter door products.
For their insulated rolling shutters, they integrated Refractory Ceramic Fibers and silica blankets into the metal shutter door which are subjected to vigorous vibrations, rubbing, stretching and knocking during operation which is unpracticed in the industry.
Usually, these man-made fibers materials are used in applications that do not subject them to physical disturbances or are properly sealed to prevent release of dusts.
Based on the material data sheet and some research of the insulation material, Refractory Ceramic Fibers (RCF). Besides skin problems, they may cause cancer and must be handled in accordance to certain dust rules that prevents the release of dust of the material as these dusts are highly insoluble and can cause serious problems if they enter the body.
Even if exposure is stopped, the trapped dusts in the lungs could continue to develop progressive incurable lung diseases as the immune system reacts against them.
Animal tests indicated occurrences of plural plagues and mesothelioma from exposed subjects.
I questioned my manager on why proper safety procedures were not in place and got a “troublesome” as a reply.
Upon finding out the seriousness of possible health consequences, I left the company ASAP, and later decided to report the case to MOM. I was later concluded to be suffering from irritant contact dermatitis in the joint session involving MOM doctors.
I found out that MOM officers went to conduct an investigation at the company after I filed the report.
As I felt this is an important investigation for me, I requested for details on the investigation by MOM and gave more details on my side to try to ensure the team carry out a proper investigation.
The investigation officer told me that investigation details are confidential and can’t be revealed to me (even though I am the victim).
After much appeals and requests for transparency on the investigation results, I got informed that they addressed the company on safety concerns and will take no further action, also stating the result of an air sampling test, arranged by the company and not subjected to the activities I engaged in, yields a concentration of the dust that is ‘not high’.
I was unhappy with the verdict and repeatedly questioned them on why no actions was taken despite the many irresponsible decisions and actions by the company over a series of emails and appeals to the MP.
They then revealed that they did not uncover any offences by the company in their inspection and that the case is closed. I appealed again and again to request to understand their investigation findings but was repeatedly told it is confidential and case is closed.
For such serious health consequences I faced and may face in the future due to irresponsible decisions by the employer for convenience or for cost-cutting sake, I am denied a chance to understand if a fair investigation had been carried out, with MOM concluding that they did not uncover any offences by the company.
This makes me wonder if we are really protected as citizens and treated with justice and equality in Singapore?
Kindly share to spread awareness on the possible treatment one may face if they encounter similar problems at work in Singapore. Especially jobs with physical exposure.
What would you do if you face such a situation?