Recent Workplace Safety Offences and Incidence of Repeat Offenders

16 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Manpower of the 558 firms penalised during the recent workplace safety enforcement operations between 15 August 2022 and 17 October 2022 (a) how many firms are repeat offenders who have received penalties for workplace safety infringements previously; and (b) what is being done to prevent repeated safety breaches from happening.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, this enforcement operation was aimed at reducing slips, trips and falls (STFs) at the workplaces, which was the leading cause of major injuries in the first half of 2022. The operation uncovered common contraventions such as STF hazards not identified during risk assessments, control measures not implemented for poorly maintained flooring and workers wearing inadequate footwear. All these contraventions required very basic mitigations for the workers’ safety.

MOM issued a total of 12 stop-work orders (SWO), over 200 composition fines and close to 1,600 notices of non-compliances to 558 companies in the Construction, Manufacturing, Transportation and Storage and Accommodation, and Food Services sectors.

Despite the Heightened Safety Period and the repeated calls by the Ministry, slightly more than half of the 558 companies had received penalties for workplace safety and health (WSH) offences previously. These repeat WSH offenders received stiffer penalties, such as higher composition fines compared to first time offenders. Those with poor WSH performance were also inspected more regularly. For instance, DA Engineering Pte Ltd, a repeat WSH offender, was issued with a SWO and fined a total of $8,000 as this enforcement operation continued to uncover multiple unsafe conditions in its workplace.

The Ministry recognises that tangible improvements to unsafe WSH practices go beyond issuance of penalties.

For companies with fatal or major injuries, MOM requires them to engage external auditors to conduct a thorough review of their WSH processes and implement measures to prevent recurrence. The WSH Council has also strengthen the support for companies, especially our SMEs who need help to improve their WSH practices and processes through StartSAFE. Under the StartSAFE programme, SMEs have access to WSH consultants who can provide professional advice and hands-on guidance on how to identify WSH risks, implement good WSH practices and prevent recurrence of a WSH offence.

Mr Speaker: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his response. I have two supplementary questions. Since the introduction of the Heightened Safety Period from 1 September this year, how many CEOs and Directors were made accountable for serious workplace safety breaches, what was the highest penalty imposed and if the ACOP had been used to penalise any Director thus far?

Two, as part of the Heightened Safety Period measures, how many companies had volunteered for the StartSAFE programme that the Senior Minister of State mentioned, which I believe is offered free to companies? Are there any plans to reach out to more companies, in particular SMEs, to take up this programme?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank the Member for asking about the Approved Code of Practice for Directors and CEOs (ACOP) that was just recently implemented on 1 November this year. So, we are just a month into it. Prosecutions typically take time, and therefore, I do not have an update, specific to the ACOP.

But what I can say is this: today, under section 48 of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, company directors as well as C-suite or senior leaders can already be prosecuted under the law for contraventions or not complying to workplace safety and health measures. ACOP helps us to put an added layer to put more transparency and clearer obligations on managements and boards so that they look after the workplace safety and health of their employees and workers. So, it makes it clearer. And if needed, it makes also clearer for prosecution, for us to prosecute them in Court.

But let me also give the Member some idea since he asked about what we have done so far with prosecution of board directors and senior leaders. I will take two recent cases. One is the director of Thyme Food & Services who was charged under section 48 of the WSH Act for failure to prevent the offence of the occupier. The director was fined $45,000 while the firm was fined $185,000. So, we do differentiate between firms and directors. In the other case, Leeden National Oxygen Ltd was also charged under the same section 48 of the WSH Act – the ex-CEO for failure to exercise due diligence as CEO. He was fined $45,000 while the firm was fined $340,000. So, these are actual offences which we have prosecuted under the older regime. But, with ACOP, it makes it easier for us to prosecute as the regime is a lot clearer.

Specific to StartSAFE, I agree with the Member that beyond just enforcement and penalties, it is also important for us to inculcate that culture and mindset of workplace safety among leaders and businesses. So, if we look at StartSAFE, we have brought in more than 140 companies, in fact, that have signed up since September and October this year since we started the heightened safety period. This is close to 50% higher than what we typically got monthly before this. So, there is, indeed, higher demand.

But, certainly, if you ask me whether it can still be better, this is where I seek the help of the unions, for example, and employers and trade associations, to encourage more companies, because this is fully funded by the Government for SMEs. And SMEs have also been shown to have a higher incidence of fatalities and major injuries this year. So, we want to inculcate and bring more on board as much as we can.

Since the launch of ACOP as well, we have also now engaged various industry associations and companies, particularly to promote the adoption of ACOP principles and measures. So, what we will be doing next is to develop online resources on ACOP and incorporate ACOP into bizSAFE level 1 by the first quarter of 2023. So, we are going to institutionalise ACOP into our bizSAFE certification programmes and, therefore, I hope we will get more firms on board as we formalise it as well.

Mr Speaker: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his further clarifications. We are about three months into the heightened safety period. Can the Senior Minister of State share if this period and the measures have helped to improve the workplace safety situation across the various industries and are there any plans to extend the heightened safety period beyond 28 February 2023?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank the Member for his follow-up question on the heightened safety period. To recap, MOM introduced a slew of measures to strengthen WSH as part of our heightened safety period from 1 September this year to 28 February next year. So, this is really to target egregious companies with serious or fatal workplace accidents. To date, I think we have had some promising results or outcomes so far. Prior to 1 September, we were having about 4.5 fatal accidents per month, on average. After the heightened safety alert was implemented, we have about two fatalities per month. So, we have slowed down the momentum. I hope it continues. I think there is greater awareness among firms. But again, we should move towards zero because every fatality is just one too many.

To date, more than 30 companies were also required to engage external auditors to conduct a thorough review of the WSH processes following the issuance of stop-work orders during the heightened safety period. So, in addition, two companies Le Fong Building Service and Green Cycling were debarred from employing new foreign workers for up to three months and their CEOs had to personally account to MOM to take responsibility for rectifications. So, this also shows the change in posture that we are taking now, to make leaders, CEOs, a lot more accountable for fatalities and major injuries in their workplaces. Another the heightened safety period, MOM also called for mandatory safety timeout to be completed by 30 September 2022 and we are enforcing it as we move along with inspections.

To the Member's question whether this will be extended, the heightened safety period is still ongoing. So, let us review it. The initial outcomes, as I have shared, have slowed down the momentum of fatalities. So, I think that is a good sign and we hope that continues. But it is still too early to say. Let us wait till March next year and then we will decide after we see the total outcome of the whole period.