Stop work order issued

Instructions from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia will also be released soon.

Issues regarding construction site safety are under the DOSH jurisdiction and they would run a thorough investigation.

The PWD will establish a team of experts to investigate the cause of the incident and identify the collapse factors, competence of employees and operating contractor at the site either they follow the work procedures.

PWD also recommends measures to prevent such incidents from further recurring in government projects and private construction.

Meanwhile, the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) has also instructed the contractors involved in construction works at the site of the collapsed interchange ramp of the Penang Second Bridge to stop work immediately.

Its engineering director Addnan Mohd Razali, in a Bernama report, was reportedly saying that the contractors involved were also urged to take measures to restore the condition at the collapse site.

"The platform structure collapsed on the road last night and it endangered public safety," he said in a statement distributed at the scene.

He said the MPPP had sent a notification letter on the instruction to the Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd (JKSB) and Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) today.

The Second Penang Bridge is a Federal Government project which connects Batu Maung on the island to Batu Kawan on the mainland.

The bridge construction was undertaken by the Second Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd which is a company 100 per cent owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc (MOF).

The total length of the construction is 24km, where 17km is the bridge over the sea and the remaining 7km in land highways in the area.