The leaders of 10 key construction groups unveiled a series of plans to improve workplace safety, reported Channel News Asia.
This comes after the groups — which include the Real Estate Developers’ Association, the Singapore Contractors Association Limited, and the Building Construction and Timber Industries Union — recommitted to a goal (originally set in 2010) to reduce the rate of workplace fatality within the sector by an annual 25 percent, to less than 1.8 per 10,000 workers in the next three years.
Focusing on six key areas of the construction project’s life cycle, the plans include setting clear workplace safety goals at the beginning of a project, considering the risks during the design and planning stage, and training workers on safe practices.
Notably, workplace fatality rate fell from 8.1 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2010 to 5.5, or 27 deaths, in 2014. Despite this, the construction sector remained the biggest contributor to workplace fatalities since 2009.
The government will gazette Design for Safety regulations under the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Act by August, said Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say at the Construction WSH Leadership Summit. Announced in May 2014, the regulations, which will be mandatory for projects worth S$10 million and above, will take effect in August next year.
“It would be instituted right from the start, during the design stage. When we get consultants in, we want to see that consultants have a good record themselves. And certainly we want the consultants to start thinking right from the start, when they design the product — whether outside in or inside out — that safety is considered, the risks are mitigated,” said Augustine Tan, president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore.
The government also plans to work with the industry to pilot the Developer and Designer Early Engagement programme in several projects, and train 1,000 Design for Safety professionals by 2018.
“With strong commitment and alignment of efforts, we can transform the entire construction process to be easier, safer and smarter for workers,” Lim said. “Let us pursue Vision Zero together, because every life lost could have been saved.”
Cheryl Marie Tay, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
