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(1º§) The Real Estate Developers' Association of
Singapore (REDAS) will encourage its members to pay
out safety bonuses to incentivise contractors with good
Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) performance. These
will be given out at specific project milestones, to promote
safer work practices. "This would be a strong carrot in
aligning contractors' business interests with good WSH
practices," said Senior Minister of State for Manpower
Zaqy Mohamad on Thursday (Aug 25).
(2º§) He added that developers have "tremendous
influence" as service buyers to raise safety standards
and reward contractors for good safety performance. Mr
Zaqy also announced other measures to improve
workplace safety at the REDAS Safety Leadership Forum
held at the Fullerton Hotel.
(3º§) There have been 34 workplace deaths to date this
year. Construction workplace deaths have been trending
up after COVID-19 work stoppages, and of the fatalities
this year, 12 cases or almost 40 per cent were from the
construction industry.
(4º§) The number of major injuries this year is "similarly
worrying", said Mr Zaqy. Despite an overall drop over the
last decade, the construction industry recorded 84 major
injuries so far in the first half of 2022. This would be the
worst performance since 2014 if the figure is annualised
to the whole of 2022, which the senior minister of state
called "disheartening and unacceptable".
(5º§) Giving the opening address at the forum, Mr Zaqy
noted that the inculcation of a safety culture must start
with top management, and that property developers sit at
the "very top of the construction sector". "As developers,
you are in the best position to take safety leadership
because you set WSH standards through your contract
specifications when selecting contractors," he said.
(6º§) "You determine the pace of work, and you are also
in a position to reward safe behaviour and penalise poor
ones." President of REDAS Chia Ngiang Hong said that
leadership styles are moving from a top-down
hierarchical approach to being more collaborative.
"Today's construction and infrastructure projects are
increasingly complex and larger in scale, which place
even greater importance on safety at worksites through
collaborative leadership," he said.
(7º§) He added that collaborative leadership is even more
important in times where there is a manpower crunch
amid construction backlogs, cost escalation, supply chain
issues and financial challenges. Giving a rundown of
MOM's enhanced measures to address the recent spate
of accidents, Mr Zaqy said that the ministry has stepped
up enforcement and doubled fines for WSH
infringements.
(8º§) He said that workers need to feel empowered to
raise safety issues they see on the ground, so
signboards at construction sites will show a QR code linking to MOM, together with its safety hotline. "They
should raise red flags to their supervisors, but if the
supervisors do not listen, they need to know how they
can report to MOM," he said. The ministry has also
revised the WSH Guidelines for Design for Safety, and
provided detailed checklists for the reference of
developers and contractors. This way, they can
incorporate safety in the planning and design phase of
projects, said Mr Zaqy.
(9º§) He also highlighted that companies need to be
self-motivated to be safe and this often depends on the
culture and processes set by top management. To
encourage that, MOM is finalising the Code of Practice
(COP) on Chief Executives' and Board of Directors' WSH
Duties and The draft COP is available for public
consultation.
(10º§) The COP will spell out WSH responsibilities for
management and boards, and the courts may consider
the COP when assessing the culpability of company
leaders and its board, when an accident occurs. "Some
specific ways to set and demand high WSH standards
are: To take vendors' and contractors' WSH performance
into account when choosing them; to disqualify unsafe
companies from being awarded your contracts; and to
reward vendors and contractors with good WSH
performance," he said.
(11º§) The safety bonus would be one way to reward the
companies with good practices. "Here, I would like to
commend the REDAS members that already have this
good practice," said Mr Zaqy. "For example, Keppel Land
and City Developments Limited, who have both
introduced incentive schemes for good WSH
performance for all their projects. "I look forward to more
REDAS members demonstrating such strong safety
leadership."
(12º§) Mr Zaqy noted that some REDAS members are
also using technology to improve safety standards. Ms
Tay Seok Cheng, head of projects at 1 CDL, said that the
developer has paid out rewards for more than 20 years to
main contractors who achieve sterling safety results.
Contractors who ace their safety assessments for the
entire year can get a sum of S$30,000. Ms Tay said that
this incentive has worked well for CDL and motivates
their subcontractors and workers to be safe. "It's about
whether you believe safety is really important. I think
human life should not be neglected; everybody should do
their part on that," said Ms Tay.
(13º§) Developers can also use the enhanced e-service
CheckSAFE to find out more about a company's safety
record when appointing vendors. "Taking CheckSafe
records into account when selecting contractors will
create a virtuous cycle where main contractors will
equate safety performance with business opportunities
and result in them managing your sites and choosing
their sub-contractors with safety in mind," he said. "In the
end, developers benefit from stronger safety
performance, lower risk of work stoppage due to
accidents, and certainly a better reputation."
(14º§) Singapore as a whole has a good reputation for safety, but standards have slipped recently due to
COVID-19, said Mr Zaqy. "This is something we need to
review ... we've made a lot of improvements, so let's
continue and let's keep up Singapore as one of the safest
countries to work for".
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore
According to the text, construction deaths have been on
the rise in Singapore. This happened after:
