Model ID: 4fe8c882-5fc9-43eb-8a54-d8fc863e363e
Sitecore Context Id: 4fe8c882-5fc9-43eb-8a54-d8fc863e363e;
Senior Minister of State for Manpower, Brother Zaqy Mohamad
Distinguished guests, Sisters and brothers,
Good afternoon, and welcome to the launch of the
Speak Up for Safety “Spot, Stop and Report” Campaign, organised by the NTUC.
Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) has been in the spotlight in recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since we exited the Circuit Breaker in April 2020, the rush that many companies embarked on to clear the backlog of work had resulted in a spike in workplace accidents, injuries, and fatalities.
Workplace fatalities rose from 30 in 2020, to 37 in 2021 because of the increased activities, to 46 in 2022 – the highest number of fatalities since 2016.
In August 2022, I filed an adjournment motion in Parliament and spoke about the need for us to prioritise the safety of every worker. In my speech, I proposed five action areas:
Establish safe and easy-to-use Reporting channels;
Partner the unions to enhance safety Inspections;
Step up safety Gearing of our workers;
Mandate Higher Management’s commitment to safety; and
Leverage Technology to enhance workplace safety.
They form the acronym “RIGHT”.
In response, as Brother Zaqy mentioned, MOM instituted the Heightened Safety Period (HSP) for nine months from September 2022 to May 2023.
Effectiveness of HSP
For the first half of 2023, the annualised fatality rate per 100,000 workers was about 0.8. That was below our ambition of 1.0 per 100,000 workers.
This was a significant improvement from a rate of 1.3 in the second half of 2022, and about 1.6 in the first half of 2022.
Clearly, the additional WSH obligations and increased penalties against errant companies imposed by MOM as part of the HSP had worked well in driving down workplace fatalities.
However, since the HSP ended on 31 May 2023, we have seen workplace fatalities start to rise again.
As union leaders, as safety champions, management or staff, we all know very well that these fatalities are not just
statistics because every worker is a father or mother, a son or daughter, a brother or sister. So we do not take this lightly.
They leave behind loved ones who mourn their passing – loved ones who have to deal with the sudden and unexpected loss of a key breadwinner of the family.
That prompted me to file my second adjournment motion on WSH earlier this week, highlighting the need to keep our workplaces safe beyond the HSP.
Keeping our workplaces safe beyond HSP
In my speech, I gave four suggestions on how the Government and the industry can work together to do so.
The four recommendations make up the acronym “SAFE”:
Safety by design;
All workplaces to have a dedicated WSH professional;
Financial penalties to augment composition fines and Stop Work Orders; and
Enforcement checks of unsafe workplace practices.
You can read my full speech, and SMS Zaqy’s response online.
Spot, Stop and Report
Today, NTUC is launching our “Spot, Stop and Report” campaign, to complement this year’s national WSH campaign’s theme of “Reporting Saves Lives”.
It is imperative that we take a proactive and pre-emptive approach toward safety rather than a reactive one. It would be too late to make things safer only when an accident has occurred.
By advocating the actions of spot, stop and report, we want to encourage workers to feel safe to report any workplace safety concerns to the management, without fear of reprisal, without fear of retaliation.
The Labour Movement urges companies to take all feedback seriously, investigate each report thoroughly, and put in place the relevant prevention measures before an accident happens.
Should the company management fail to act on any safety report, workers are advised to escalate their concern to their unions.
A safe workplace must be a basic right for every worker!
The three simple acts of Spot, Stop and Report are not limited to just workers at a worksite. Everyone, from contractors to members of the public, can, and should spot, stop, and report any unsafe workplace practices that they come across.
Only by working together can we save lives and limbs.
It takes years to build a collective and strong WSH culture.
A culture of reporting unsafe workplace practices and a culture of swiftly acting on feedback are essential building blocks for Singapore to reach our Vision Zero target of having zero workplace accidents.
The Labour Movement will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners to build a strong, deep-rooted national WSH culture, including a robust reporting culture.
The next time you come across any area of safety concern
in your own workplace, please do remember to spot, stop, and report it.
You might just save someone’s life.
Thank you.
###
