By Shukry Rashid
When Melvin Yong became director of NTUC’s WSH (Workplace Safety and Health) Secretariat in July this year, he was tasked with improving the WSH condition of workers.
Last month, he finally heard some good news from the Workplace Safety and Health Institute when it released its first half of 2017 WSH report. There were 19 workplace fatalities in the first half 2017, down from the 42 in the same period in 2016.
NTUC This Week caught up with Mr Yong to find out what the Labour Movement has been doing to improve WSH.
NTUC This Week: What is NTUC’s role in the Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2017?
Melvin Yong: The Labour Movement’s role is always about mobilising our workers, to ensure that the WSH messages from these initiatives are disseminated promptly and effectively and that our workers understand the messages clearly.
Every week, with the help of our unions, trade associations and SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], we organise roadshows to spread the awareness of WSH. We have an established network of 58 affiliated unions, which represent the different industries in Singapore. Through this network and support from members of NTUC’s WSH Committee, we are able to disseminate WSH information and also share WSH best practices in a timely manner to all our workers.
The number of workplace fatalities in the first half of 2017 was down to 19 from the 42 in the same period in 2016. What do you think led to this improvement?
Over the past 12 months, significant efforts were put in to create greater WSH awareness on the ground. We focused our efforts on the top three causes of workplace fatality from the top three sectors with the highest number of workplace fatality. They are slips, trips and falls [STF], caught in-between objects, and struck by moving objects from the construction, manufacturing and transportation sectors. For example, in our efforts to reduce the number of slips, trips and falls, we developed and distributed the STF prevention guidelines.
Apart from workplace safety, what about workplace health?
We are trying to put more emphasis on workplace health, especially after what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said about diabetes during his National Day Rally. The National Transport Workers’ Union [NTWU] operates 43 canteens islandwide. I think we can improve on the meals we offer at our canteens. Currently, some NTWU canteens have started offering healthy meal options such as brown rice. Working together with the Health Promotion Board, we hope to come up with a Healthy Canteen checklist for all our canteen operators.
What work has been done so far to carry out these plans?
To change consumers’ behaviour and eating habits, one suggestion was to provide healthier meals at a lower price. Unfortunately, healthier food options tend to be more expensive. We need to be able to work out a sustainable programme so that our canteen operators will find it feasible and economical to provide healthier meal options. With 43 canteens, NTWU has the economy of scale to discuss with suppliers. There are also many factories with their own staff canteens, and we should work with them too. For a start, we could follow the example at some Foodfare food centres, where every stall offers at least one healthy meal option.
What else is the WSH Secretariat working on?
One segment of workers that we are paying special attention to is the freelancers. With no employers and unions, we are concerned about their coverage should they be involved in a workplace accident. It is still work in progress, but we are consulting widely on how we can help this segment of workers.
Good to Know
If you would like an e-copy of the slips, trips and falls prevention guidelines developed by NTUC’s WSH Secretariat, email to qwd@ntuc.org.sg.
