SINGAPORE – Construction companies are strongly encouraged by the authorities to impose a safety timeout from Nov 8 to 22, after workplace deaths in the sector between July and October doubled from the first half of 2024.
The safety timeout should focus on three areas of concern identified, based on recent fatal incidents: falling objects that may strike workers, vehicular safety, and safe lifting and rigging activities.
Senior management should engage with site teams and workers, review safety protocols and address safety concerns as part of their safety timeouts.
Government agencies will lead by example and call on their contractors to impose these timeouts at public sector construction worksites, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Ten construction workers died on the job in the four months from July to October, compared with five in the first six months of 2024.
This suggests a reduced emphasis on workplace safety and health (WSH) in the construction industry, said MOM on Nov 7.
As the festive season approaches, MOM added that “it is imperative that the sector remain vigilant and upkeep safety standards as companies may rush to meet deadlines before workers go on home leave”.
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Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad said on Nov 7: “Since we find complacency seeping in, it’s important to arrest that... before it spreads... Certainly, the safety timeout will enable us to send a message, create awareness, have a refresh in our thinking.
“It’s a time of reflection for many of our workers and our operators, because I think it’s important that we think through the residual lapses, near misses, risk assessments.”
Eight of the 10 deaths in the construction sector from July to October were preventable as safety measures and risk assessments were in place at the worksites, but there was unsafe behaviour by workers, said Mr Zaqy.
He was speaking during a visit to a Seah Construction worksite in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, where MOM issued a full stop-work order after safety lapses such as improper scaffolding, protruding nails and a blocked passageway were found.
The safety timeout for all construction companies was called by a multi-agency workplace safety and health task force, which comprises the Manpower, National Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Trade and Industry, Transport and Health ministries, along with the labour movement and the WSH Council industry committees.
It is not mandatory, Mr Zaqy said, as the situation now is not as dire as in 2022, when a six-month heightened safety period was introduced after a sharp rise in workplace deaths. Following that, a mandatory safety timeout was imposed for the first time.
The most recent workplace death reported in the construction sector occurred on Oct 30, when a 46-year-old Thai construction worker died after being struck by a concrete mixer truck entering a worksite in Marina East Drive. The truck driver was arrested for causing death by a negligent act.
Nineteen workers died on the job in the first half of 2024, up from 14 deaths in the same period in 2023. The construction, marine, transport and storage, and manufacturing industries accounted for 63 per cent of the 19 deaths.
The construction industry had the most workplace deaths in the first half of 2024, followed by the marine sector with four, and the water supply, sewage and waste management sector with three.
In its statement, MOM said Singapore’s overall WSH performance in the first half of 2024, with a workplace death rate of one per 100,000 workers – near the record low of 0.99 recorded in 2023 – was encouraging.
“However, the recent performance in the construction sector is concerning”, and the ministry has ramped up inspections in higher-risk sectors such as construction since October, it added.
The sector was also the largest contributor to fatal and major industry incidents from January to June 2024, with 31 incidents – slightly more than the 28 in the same period in 2023.
Since early 2024, the authorities have introduced several measures to improve workplace safety in the construction sector. Among them is a move by government agencies to place a greater emphasis on safety in evaluating construction tenders called from April.
Asked what more can be done to improve safety beyond the recent measures, Mr Zaqy said it will take time for employers to adjust to the new measures, such as a requirement rolled out in June to install video surveillance systems at construction projects valued at $5 million or more.
In 2017, Singapore set a target to bring the workplace death rate to below one per 100,000 workers by 2028, which was achieved in 2023.
Correction note: An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that Singapore’s workplace fatality rate was near a record low of 0.99 in 2003. It should have been 2023.