WORKPLACE SAFETY AND HEALTH
Singapore - Employers can now look forward to receiving free advice on workplace health and safety (WSH) issues at "WSH clinics" which will be open for consulting twice every quarter in the next 12 months.
The new WSH Act will benefit about half of Singapore's workforce or 1.4 million workers in companies across 16 industries. The industries encompass the relatively low-risk ones such as retail, entertainment, education, finance and the public sector.
Speaking at the WSH symposium yesterday, Hawazi Daipi, senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Manpower, said informational packages will be sent to all employers from the aforementioned sectors. He urged employers to utilise the guides to improve the health and safety standards in their workplaces. "This will further allow you to better understand the process of risk assessment, and how you should identify all potential risks and hazards at the workplace," Daipi said.
Employers can then devise the necessary measures to alleviate the risks at work and protect the safety of their employees, he added.
Qualified WSH consultants will be placed at the clinics to help companies identify problems and offer solutions on the various aspects of WSH. They will include topics on legal issues, resources, the funding and schemes available and work injury compensation.
Being in the oil and gas industry, Lim Sing Tian, senior project manager of HSL Constructor thinks it is a good thing that WSH Act is encompassing more sectors. He said as his company places safety at the utmost importance, it is absolutely essential for the lower-risk industries to benefit from the governmental initiative as well.
"Safety concerns everybody so it is definitely necessary for WSH to include the formerly left out industries in the workplace safety programme, instead of only providing it for the high-risk industries," Lim said.
Although the workplace injuries and fatalities rates are generally low in those industries, there were still some occurrences of accidents, as recorded in last year's data. According to Ministry of Manpower's figures, 29% of the total number of workplace injuries was contributed by the same sectors last year. Additionally, 6% or four employees have died while on their jobs. Of the workplace accidents, 21% are falls from height, 17% slips and trips, while 11% of the employees get injuries from sharp objects.
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