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Good overall progress in improving Workplace Safety and Health, but worrying\u00a0spate of recent accidents\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Singapore has made good progress in making our workplaces safer over the\u00a0years. Our workplace fatality rate has more than halved from 2.3 per 100,000 workers\u00a0in 2011 to 1.1 in 2021. This is close to world-class standards, with only four OECD\u00a0countries achieving a fatality rate of less than 1.0 per 100,000 workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. However, there has been a recent worrying spate of workplace fatalities across\u00a0various industries, with 10 in April 2022 alone. This brings the total number of\u00a0workplace fatalities in 2022 to 20, higher than the number of fatalities for the same\u00a0period since 2016. As such, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Workplace Safety and\u00a0Health (WSH) Council<\/a>, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and industry\u00a0partners have called on companies to conduct a Safety Time-Out (STO) from 9 May\u00a02022. (please see para 6 for details of what an STO involves).\u00a0<\/p>\n Many cases could have been prevented with basic safety and health measures<\/strong><\/p>\n 3. Of the 20 fatal cases in 2022 so far, it is very concerning that seven of them\u00a0were similar in nature to cases that occurred in 2021: three cases involved forklifts,\u00a0two involved falls from ladders, two involved falls through fragile surfaces. Preliminary\u00a0investigations revealed that a common factor among these fatalities was that basic\u00a0safety and health control measures \u2013 such as wearing of seat belts in forklifts, or fall protection gear while working at heights \u2013 were either inadequate or not in place at all.\u00a0Lives would have been saved if these well-established control measures were taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n WSH Council has partnered with industry associations and NTUC to rally\u00a0companies to conduct a Safety Time-Out\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 4. To address this spate of fatalities, we strongly urge companies to:\u00a0 5. To this end, the WSH Council has partnered with the NTUC and various\u00a0industry and trade associations to generate mass awareness on the need for\u00a0companies to review their WSH management systems, and learn from past accidents,\u00a0via what is known as a STO from 9 May 2022. This is expected to last for two weeks.<\/p>\n 6. STOs typically involve taking a pause in work for senior management to engage\u00a0workers and unions in reinforcing WSH processes, and to act on any issues raised.\u00a0This STO also urges senior management to ensure that learning points from past\u00a0accidents are shared with all workers. Doing so enables all parties to be aligned in\u00a0their goals towards achieving better WSH practices. This STO will have two main focus\u00a0areas: Working Safely at Heights, such as working safely on fragile surfaces and safe\u00a0use of ladders, and Safe Use of Equipment, such as forklifts. More information on\u00a0STOs and the list of participating associations are in the Annex<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 7. In addition, the WSH Council will be organising an online STO Forum, which\u00a0will be broadcast on the WSH Council\u2019s Facebook page in end-May. It will feature a\u00a0sharing on the recent cases and learning points, as well as presentations by industry\u00a0experts from various industries who will focus on topics such as safe use of forklifts,\u00a0safe use of ladders, working around fragile surfaces, and safe boarding of vessels.<\/p>\n 8. WSH Council Chairman Mr John Ng, said: \u201cIt is alarming and unfortunate that\u00a0a number of this year\u2019s fatal cases involved basic safety lapses. Furthermore, some\u00a0of these accidents are similar to those that happened in 2021. This is why I strongly\u00a0urge all companies to answer this STO call to review your processes, communicate\u00a0with your workers, and implement necessary control measures to uphold good WSH\u00a0standards, particularly in preventing falls from height, working around fragile surfaces,\u00a0and the safe use of machinery such as forklifts.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health and Divisional Director of\u00a0MOM\u2019s Occupational Safety and Health Division, Mr Silas Sng, said: \u201cPerforming work\u00a0activities that are routine and repetitive does not guarantee that accidents will not\u00a0happen. We need all employers and employees to take WSH seriously and personally,\u00a0and to implement the WSH measures before an accident occurs in your workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n 09 May 2022<\/span>
\n Press Releases<\/a>
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i. Ensure they have effective WSH management systems, including\u00a0reviewing their risk assessments, ensuring that all their workers\u00a0implement risk control measures, and have WSH training relevant to\u00a0their roles.\u00a0
ii. Make use of WSH Council\u2019s WSH Alerts<\/a>, which contain learning points\u00a0from recent fatal accidents, to sensitise all their workers to potentially\u00a0hazardous situations, and on how to avoid a repeat of similar fatal cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n