The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Associate and the Singapore Institution of Safety Officers (SISO) unveiled the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Leadership Programme at the 13th SISO Annual Workplace Safety and Health Officers Conference today. NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing also hosted a dialogue session with the industry professionals present at the conference. He focused on the importance of raising WSH in organisations, and emphasised the need for a two-pronged approach – industry professionals need to upskill and be globally competitive, and the organisation’s management needs to play their part to support WSH as an enabler of productivity, teamwork and employee engagement.
The WSH Leadership Programme is the first of its kind that caters to WSH officers in middle management positions who are registered with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and have a minimum of eight years of WSH experience. The programme, developed by NTUC U Associate and its partner, SISO, aims to equip them with the leadership and soft skills necessary to progress beyond their current positions and to take up senior management roles.
“Professionals in the WSH industry have highly developed technical expertise to face challenges in the workplace, but they may need higher level leadership and soft skills needed to take on management positions in their organisations,” said NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Yeo Guat Kwang, who is part of the NTUC WSH Secretariat. “The WSH Leadership Programme will address this gap by providing a platform for WSH officers to be equipped with the skills necessary to compete and obtain top management positions in Singapore and beyond.”
Through the WSH Leadership programme, 50 WSH professionals will undergo 10 modules specially curated to strengthen management skills as well as leadership and soft skills. Modules include Disruptive Innovation Strategies, The Art of Negotiation and Influence, and WSH Professionalism. NTUC U Associate and SISO also identified five key competencies that will help WSH officers progress in their careers. They are:
Through the year-long initiative, participants will undergo a combination of theory-based classroom sessions and practical activities, such as networking and dialogue sessions, with industry practitioners and C-suite leaders from a breadth of organisations and industries. Current speakers include Ms Sheela Awat, an Advocate and Solicitor from AT Law Practice LLP; Mr Mike Neo, Director of Bridging Goals Consultancy Pte Ltd; Mr Soh Chee Seng, Associate Director of Bridging Goals Consultancy Pte Ltd; and Mr William Heng, Career Coach of Career Coaching Services. Lessons are targeted to start in the first quarter of 2016.
“We hope that the WSH Leadership Programme will achieve two objectives. Firstly, the provision of a clearly defined career progression pathway that will attract more talent to join the WSH profession. Secondly, the acquisition of additional skills to help our Singapore WSH professionals remain relevant in an increasingly competitive and global workforce,” said Mr Seet Choh San, President, SISO.
The launch of the WSH Leadership Programme is part of NTUC U Associate’s refreshed vision to strengthen the outreach to professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), by developing progression pathways to catalyse the growth of PMEs in various sectors.
“Developing sector-specific programmes with our U Associate partners is a crucial piece of the puzzle in NTUC’s vision to drive sectorial development. PMEs face different types of challenges in each of their industries and require different competencies and skills to overcome these obstacles,” said Mr Vivek Kumar, Director of NTUC U Associate and Future Leaders Programme. “NTUC U Associate hopes to create a collaborative ecosystem where our U Associate partners can come together to tap on each other’s resources and achieve economies of scale that will ultimately benefit PMEs in Singapore.” (Please refer to Annex A for more information on the U Associate partners)
Having launched career and skills progression plans for PMEs in sectors such as Engineering, Accountancy and most recently, Workplace Safety and Health, NTUC U Associate will continue to roll out programmes for Information Technology, and Human Resources, among others in the first half of 2016.
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