(Picture: Ministry of Communications and Information)
Singapore takes workplace safety and health very seriously as human capital is the country’s only resource, said Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong.
As such, the country is setting itself a new target to bring down workplace fatalities to below 1.0 per 100,000 employed persons before 2028.
He was speaking at the 21st World Congress on Safety & Health At Work 2017 on 3 September 2017.
Held in Singapore for the first time, the four-day congress was attended by nearly 3,000 practitioners of workplace safety and health.
PM Lee recounted that in 2008, Singapore set a target to reduce fatality rates to 1.8 per 100,000 employed persons within a decade by 2018.
“With the right approach and framework in place, and with the political emphasis given to this task, we have made progress and should soon meet this target. Last year, Singapore’s workplace fatality rate was down to 1.9 per 100,000. But this is still not the best that can be achieved,” he said.
The Tripartite Approach
To achieve the new target in the next 10 years, PM Lee said maintaining the tripartite approach to workplace safety and health will be key, involving employers, workers and the Government.
On its part, the Government will take the lead and institute rules and incentives for companies to emphasise workplace safety and health.
Turning to workers, PM Lee said they are the ones most familiar with the work processes and can take ownership of their own safety and health.
They can also raise the alarm if they discover potential hazards at work.
PM Lee also encouraged workers to attend training courses on workplace safety and health at NTUC LearningHub (LHUB).
“The trade union movement has fully supported the improvement of workplace safety and health. It will continue to engage workers and companies, to encourage them to adopt better monitoring and reporting practices, including reporting near miss accidents or incidents,” he shared.
LHUB’s Role
Replying to questions from NTUC This Week, LHUB said that response to its workplace safety courses has been very positive.
In the last 10 years, it has achieved more than 900,000 training places.
“Workplace safety requires continuing attention so that we, collectively as a workforce, can sustain the high standards of workplace safety as a first-world country. There will be new companies formed and new workers joining the workforce and it is our duty to induct them with the Singapore workplace safety culture,” said LHUB CEO Kwek Kok Kwong.
According to PM Lee, the Government also wants to encourage companies to use technology more pervasively to reduce the risks of workplace accidents and ill-health.
In this regard, LHUB said it is refreshing its safety courses to include more technological elements like virtual learning for work at heights class.
