WSH: New plan for workplace safety

The WSH has announced a new plan to improve workplaces, and employers should set out their own schemes too

BY Lucy Hook 26 Aug 2016

After Minister of Manpower Lim Swee Say warned that the workplace fatality rate in Singapore is on the rise, the WSH announced its plans - including new initiative, WSH 2018 Plus - to improve workplace safety and reduce the Republic's death rate.

The WSH 2018 Plus plan aims to reduce Singapore's fatality rate to 1.8 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Speaking at the Singapore WSH Conference 2016, Lim warned on Wednesday that the workplace fatality rate this year could hit 2.2, compared to 1.9 in 2015 and 1.8 in 2014.

The new WSH 2018 Plus plan will focus on three areas:

Improving workplace safety and health standards in the construction sector
Strengthening workplace safety and health competency in our workforce
Building collective workplace safety and health ownership

Er Ho Siong Hin, Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health, Ministry of Manpower, stressed that organisations must also implement strategies to tackle the impact of emerging trends such as new technologies and changing demographics, which are impacting workers' productivity and well-being.

Speaking at conference, he said: “To have an engaged and productive workforce, an enhanced protection for workers’ safety, health and well-being is a no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have."

Leading the conference's closing speech, Sam Tan, Minister of State for Manpower (pictured), said: "There is acknowledgement that Total WSH is necessary as our population ages and as we introduce new technology into our workplace. We need new approaches in safety and health to keep pace with these changes."

During the conference, the WSH Institute also announced plans to set up a new body for research, the NTU-WSH Institute Research Centre, in conjunction with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).