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In driving this, employers must ensure their workers are properly trained and equipped with WSH capability and knowledge, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad stressed.
From 2021 to first half of 2023, Singapore's workplace fatalities and reported injuries largely comprised small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and workers aged below 55. Particularly, construction and manufacturing sectors were consistently the top contributors for workplace fatalities and workplace injuries respectively.
Responding to Parliamentary questions on workplace safety, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has affirmed that the Government takes workplace safety and health (WSH) extremely seriously. MOM investigates every fatal case thoroughly to ascertain the culpable parties. If found guilty, action will be taken against responsible parties; this includes prosecuting the organisations, culpable senior management and individuals.
Under the Workplace Safety and Health Act, the maximum financial penalty for organisations and individuals is a fine of up to S$500,000 and S$200,000 respectively. Individuals may also face imprisonment for up to two years in addition to any fine. The Government reviews these penalties regularly, and organisations and individuals found guilty will also suffer reputational damage, the Ministry stressed.
Speaking in Parliament earlier this week, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad said: "Since the promulgation of the Act in 2006, our workplace fatality rate has improved significantly from 3.1 per 100,000 workers in 2006 to around 1.0 today. However, every fatality is one too many.
"We will continue to strive towards a workplace fatality rate of below 1.0 by 2028. Only four countries in the world have achieved this consistently ─ the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. No Asian country has done so on a consistent basis."
Building a sustainable WSH culture
In that vein, he highlighted, improving workplace safety and health is not simply a matter of law and punishments alone.
Beyond a regulatory framework and putting in place sound policies, he emphasised the need to build a sustainable WSH culture. This requires a sustained and collective effort by organisations, management, industry associations, union leaders and workers.
He stated: "Leaders in the organisations must set the tone and foster a culture and mindset where safety is second nature, and where workers feel safe to report unsafe workplace practices to their employers, supervisors or union leaders."
Employers must thus ensure that their workers are properly trained and equipped with WSH capability and knowledge, and use technology to detect and prevent workplace incidents, SMS Zaqy pointed out. At the same time, workers themselves must play their part to follow safe work procedures and report unsafe work practices to the appropriate authority.
Complementing this, Singapore has implemented various steps and programmes over the years to enhance WSH, such as a series of measures after the Heightened Safety Period (HSP) introduced but the Multi-Agency Workplace Safety and Health Taskforce (MAST), which the senior minister noted have helped strengthen WSH ownership and capabilities at the sectoral, company and individual levels.
Lead image / 123rf
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