News

Public Consultation on Workplace Safety and Health Regulations 
Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005 - 12:00 AM

The Ministry of Manpower ("MOM") has published draft regulations under the proposed Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act slated to be passed by Parliament before the end of 2005. MOM is seeking public feedback on the proposed regulations.
The consultation paper states:-

BACKGROUND

1. At the Committee of Supply Debate in March 2005, the Minister for Manpower noted that in order to raise occupational safety and health (OSH) standards to the next level of achievement, fundamental changes were required. He announced that a new Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act would be passed by the end of 2005 to reform the legislative framework for OSH in Singapore. A consultation process was held in August on the proposed WSH Bill, from which many important improvements to the draft were made. The Bill was tabled at Parliament for first reading on 17 October 2005, and is available at the following web address: [ http://www.parliament.gov.sg/Legislation/Htdocs/Bills/050036.pdf ]

2. The key emphases in the new framework for OSH in Singapore are:

(a) Reduce risks at source by making all stakeholders accountable for managing the risks they create. Stakeholders that create risks will be held accountable for managing and reducing those risks. Occupiers, employers, suppliers, manufacturers, designers and persons at work will have the responsibility of identifying potential risks and taking appropriate actions to mitigate risks at source.

(b) Promote industry ownership of OSH standards and outcomes. The prescriptive nature of the current Factories Act creates a mindset for management and employees to simply follow the 'letter of the law' and not address safety aspects outside prescribed legislation. Given the pace of technological change and variable work processes in different industries, legislation will inevitably lag behind safety risks. Under the new framework, a performance-based approach will be adopted augmented with prescriptive guidance for hazardous sectors and activities, to promote greater industry ownership.

(c) Punish poor safety management through prosecution and other administrative measures. Currently, safety lapses resulting in mishaps are severely punished, but the penalties for offences in the absence of mishaps are comparatively lower. This encourages the industry to tolerate sub-optimal safety practices until accidents occur. MOM will impose greater financial disincentives and penalties on workplaces with unsafe systems, before any accident has occurred. This will create the right environment where all workplaces find it more cost effective to improve their safety management systems.

3. The new Workplace Safety and Health Act, when passed, will form the legislative backbone of the OSH framework, allocating responsibilities to stakeholders and setting out remedial measures (ie. remedial orders and stop-work orders) and penalties for non-compliance. To augment the Act, a number of Regulations will be passed.

4. MOM now presents the draft Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations and Workplace Safety and Health (Incident Reporting) Regulations for consultation.

5. These regulations are central to the new framework and have an impact on all stakeholders. We invite your comments on the draft regulations, including the underlying policies. Both regulations will be introduced together with the Workplace Safety and Health Act in 2006.

Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations

6. Risk Assessment will be a cornerstone under the new framework to effect the principle of reducing risk at source. Employers will be required to assess the risk their workers are exposed to in the course of their work and to take measures to eliminate the risk. If eliminating the risks is not possible, appropriate control measures must be taken to minimize the risks, so as to protect the workers undertaking the task. These requirements are enshrined in the proposed Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations.

7. Under the proposed regulations, every employer and self-employed person would need to conduct a risk assessment in relation to the safety and health risks posed to any person who may be affected by the carrying out of the work. The risk assessment should be done prior to the work being carried out, by any competent person and would have to be reviewed regularly, especially when there are accidents or significant changes in work processes that could affect the safety and health of the workers. Details of how the risk assessment could be conducted can be found in the risk assessment guide provided by the hyperlink at the end of this cover note.

8. These regulations will apply only to workplaces covered by the Workplace Safety and Health Act. In the initial phase, this would be restricted to industrial premises such as factories, shipyards and construction worksites.

Workplace Safety and Health (Incident Reporting) Regulations

9. This proposed Workplace Safety and Health (Incident Reporting) Regulations build upon existing notification requirements under the Factories Act (s 51 and s 67). Broadly, employers or occupier have the duty to report any accidents that result in the death or injury of any person, any dangerous occurrences or any occupational diseases as a result of work done. Traffic accidents and accidents involving domestic workers are excluded from the scope of these regulations. The duty to notify will also apply when a member of public dies, or is injured and taken to hospital for treatment as a result of a workplace accident.

10. In addition to the above requirements, employers or occupiers are also required to keep records of workplace incidents and reports made, for at least 5 years, and may be required to furnish the records to the Commissioner of Workplace Safety and Health.

11. It is the intention for these Regulations upon Gazetting to apply immediately to employers and occupiers of ALL notices. In other words, the scope of coverage will NOT be restricted to factories, shipyards and construction worksites that are covered by the Workplace Safety and Health Act.

SCOPE OF THE CONSULTATION EXERCISE

12. The purpose of this consultation exercise is to seek your views and comments on the policy issues as presented in the proposed regulations.

GUIDELINES

13. To ensure that the consultation exercise is productive and successful, you are requested to follow these guidelines:

(a) Please identify yourself as well as the organization you represent (if any) so that we may follow-up to clarify any issues, if necessary.
(b) Make your comments clear and concise.
(c) Please use the prescribed template provided to help us understand your feedback better.
(d) Please explain your points with illustrations, examples, data or alternative formulations of the amendments as far as possible.

PERIOD OF CONSULTATION

14. The period of public consultation is from 24 October to 20 November 2005. All comments received through the consultation exercise will be reviewed thoroughly and if accepted, will be incorporated in the regulations. Comments sent after 20 November 2005 will not be considered.

FEEDBACK CHANNEL

15. Stakeholders are invited to give their feedback and express their views on policy positions taken and the provisions in the draft regulations using the prescribed template. You can send your comments via the online feedback form here, OR by the following methods:

(a) email: Tan_Fang_Qun@mom.gov.sg (Subject Heading: Consultation on WSH Regulations )
(b) fax: 63171261
(c) post: Ministry of Manpower, Occupational Safety and Health Division, 18 Havelock Road #03-02, Singapore 059764

We strongly encourage your views through email for speed and ease of consideration.

SUMMARY OF RESPONSE

16. We will publish on this website a summary of the main comments we received together with our responses by the end of January 2006. The summary will not disclose the identity of respondents, and may not separately address or acknowledge every comment received.

DOCUMENTS TO DOWNLOAD

17. For your convenience, the relevant documents relating to this public consultation exercise can be downloaded for further reference.

References
Webpage for the consultation paper is at http://app.feedback.gov.sg/asp/ocp/ocp01d1.asp?id=2863 .